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