Longing for the Deceased: Selections from “Love and Death” by Sri Aurobindo (vegetarian), Part 2 of 2

Let us continue with excerpts of this mesmerizing poem where Ruru decides to embark on the journey to try and bring his beloved back to life.

“Who is so coldly wise, and does not feel How wasted were our grandiose human days In prudent personal unshared delights? Why do thou mock me, friend of all the stars? How can thou be love’s God and know not this, That love burns down the body’s barriers cold And laughs at difference – playing with it merely To make joy sweeter? O too deeply I know, The lover is not different from the loved, Nor is their silence dumb to each other. […]

And when she dies, oh! when she dies, oh me, The emptiness, the maim! the life no life, The sweet and passionate oneness lost! And if By shortening of great grief won back, O price Easy! O glad briefness, aeons may envy!

For we shall live not fearing death, nor feel As others yearning over the loved at night When the lamp flickers, sudden chills of dread Terrible; nor at short absence agonise, Wrestling with mad imagination. Us Serenely when the darkening shadow comes, One common sob shall end and soul clasp soul, Leaving the body in a long dim kiss.”