SILENCE IS ALL
1
Silence is all, say the sages,
Silence watches the work of the ages;
In the book of Silence the cosmic Scribe has written his cosmic pages:
Silence is all, say the sages.
2
What then of the word, O speaker ?
What then of the thought, O thinker ?
Thought is the wine of the soul and the word is the beaker;
Life is the banquet-table as the soul of the sage is the drinker.
3
What of the wine, O mortal ?
I am drunk with the wine as I sit at Wisdom’s portal,
Waiting for the Light beyond thought and the Word immortal.
Long I sit in vain at Wisdom’s portal.
4
How shall thou know the Word when it comes, O seeker ?
How shall thou know the Light when it breaks, O witness ?
I shall hear the voice of the God within me and grow wiser and meeker;
I shall be the tree that takes in the light as its food, I shall drink its nectar of sweetness.
Sri Aurobindo
Collected Poems
The complete Works of Sri Aurobindo – Volume 2 – Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department – Pondicherry – India
