The Caged Bird and the Uncaged Bird

The poems in this volume were selected by Sri Chinmoy himself. They span the years from 1971 to 1998 and have been selected from many of the author's published works.

There goes my beloved, my sweet Lord,
The anklets ringing on His Feet.
I hear the music of His Flute
Vibrating through the horizons.
If ever my cowherd boy should cast a glance
Behind Him, still He only goes forward.
Let my eyes follow thr track
My Beloved treads.
In the twilight hour of the day,
With a sweet and serene smile,
Leading the herds of varied light,
My cowherd boy goes.


O MY LORD OF BEAUTY

You are beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful,
Beauty unparalleled in the Garden of Eden.
Day and night may Thy Image abide
In the very depth of my heart.
With out You, my eyes have no vision-
Everything is an illusion, everything is barren.
All around me, within and without,
The melody of tenebrous pangs I hear.
My world is filled with the excruciating pangs.
O Lord, O my beautiful Lord,
O my Lord of beauty,
In this lifetime, even for a fleeting second,
May I be blessed with the boon
To see Thy Face.


My Lord Supreme,
Although You are unknown to my heart,
My heart loves You only.
Although You are unknowable to my mind,
My mind is searching for You only.


O BIRD OF LIGHT

One thought, one tune, one resonance-
Who calls me ever and anon?
I know not where I am.
I know not whither I shall go.
In dark amnesia
Myself I buy, myself I sell.
All I break, again all I build.
All I hope to be mine, mine alone.
Alas, my heart is eclipsed
By dark and wild destruction-night.

O Bird of Light, O Bird of Light,
With your glowing and flowing flames
Do enter into my heart once again.
You are calling me to climb up
And fly into the blue.
But how can I?
My heart is in prison
In the strangled breath of a tiny room.
O Bird of Light, O Bird of Light,
O Bird of Light Supreme,
In me, I pray, keep not an iota of gloom.


Sailing the boat of silver light,
The moon-beauty is fast approaching me.
The sky is vibrating with sweet and melodious songs.
The birds are flying beyond the horizon
To an unknown land.
All my hopes are flying without any destruction.
Slowly my life's evening sets in.


TUNE ME FOR LIFE

O Master Musician,
Tune me for life again.
The awakening of new music
My heart wants to become.
My life is now mingled
In ecstasy's height.


A SWEET LONGING

A sweet longing have I
For the mainland of Reality.
No more shall I live a life
Founded upon culled fictions.
Splintered, broken and smashed
Realities of life no more can torture
My intrepid heart.
From now on in my mind
Only God-Reality will blossom,
In my heart
Only God-Love will grow,
In my life
Only God-Embrace will glow.


VISIONS OF THE EMERALD BEYOND

No more am I the foolish customer
Of a dry, sterile, intellectual breeze.
I shall buy only
The weaving visions of the emerald Beyond.
My heart-tapestry
Shall capture the Himalayan Smiles
Of my Pilot Supreme.
In the burial of my deceased mind,
In the revival of my climbing heart
Is the festival of my all -embracing life.


THE ANSWER

Wait and see.
The temporary emptiness
Of not discovering
The answers of life
Cannot last,
For the Answer itself
Is blossoming
Petal by petal
For you.


THE PILGRIMS OF THE LORD SUPREME

We are the pilgrims of the Lord Supreme
On the Path of Infinity.
At this time we have broken asunder
Obstruction's door.
We have broken asunder
The night of tenebrous darkness, inconscience
And the eternal, indomitable fear of death.
The Boat of the supernal Light's dawn
Is beckoning us.
And the World-Pilot
Of the hallowed bond of Love divine
Is beckoning us.
The Liberator's Hands are drawing us
To the Ocean of the great Unknown.
Having conquered the life-breath
Of the land of Immortality,
And carrying aloft the Banner
Of the Lord Supreme,
We shall return-
We, the drops and flames
Of transformation-light.


O MY BOATMAN

O my Boat, O my Boatman,
O message of Transcendental Delight,
Carry me.
My heart is thirsty and hungry,
And it is fast asleep at the same time.
Carry my heart to the other shore.
The dance of death I see all round.
The thunder of destruction indomitable I hear.
O my Inner Pilot, You are mine.
You are the Ocean of Compassion infinite
In You I lose myself.
My all in You I lose.

~ Sri Chinmoy