BEHIND AN infinite secrecy of the dark
from which the world of prying lights was shut out
there walked in the Destroyer,
and underneath the pall of an ominous hush
rehearsed reparation in the deep of my being.
At last the stage was made vacant
for the new act of life's play,
when a fiery finger from the sky touched a fringe of the darkness
and a lightning thrill
pierced the immensity of sleep
breaking it to pieces.
A stream of awakening began to course through the veins of a
blind inertness
as the first flood of the rainy June pursues its branching path
amidst the emptiness of a dry river-bed.
Big boulders of shadows barricaded the passage of light
and created confusion
till they were swept away,
and the spirit of new life unbared herself
in a luminous horizon of peace.
This body of mine
the carrier of the burden of a past
seemed to me like an exhausted cloud
slipping off from the listless arm of the morning.
I felt freed from its clasp
in the heart of an incorporeal light
at the furthest shore
of evanescent things.

WHEN MY play was with thee I never questioned who thou wert. I knew nor shyness nor fear, my life was boisterous.
In the early morning thou wouldst call me from my sleep like my own comrade and lead me running from glade to glade.
On those days I never cared to know the meaning of songs thou sangest to me. Only my voice took up the tunes, and my heart danced in their cadence.
Now, when the playtime is over, what is this sudden sight that is come upon me? The world with eyes bent upon thy feet stands in awe with all its silent stars.

IMAGINE, MOTHER, that you are to stay at home and I am to travel into strange lands.
Imagine that my boat is ready at the landing fully laden.
Now think well, mother, before you say what I shall bring for you when I come back.
Mother, do you want heaps and heaps of gold?
There, by the banks of golden streams, fields are full of golden harvest.
And in the shade of the forest path the golden champa flowers drop on the ground.
I will gather them all for you in many hundred baskets.
Mother, do you want pearls big as the raindrops of autumn?
I shall cross to the pearl island shore.
There in the early morning light pearls tremble on the meadow flowers, pearls drop on the grass, and pearls are scattered on the sand in spray by the wild sea-waves.
My brother shall have a pair of horses with wings to fly among the clouds.
For father I shall bring a magic pen that, without his knowing, will write of itself.
For you, mother, I must have the casket and jewel that cost seven kings their kingdoms.