Book-12-Study-the-Return-to-Earth

Book Twelve: Epilogue

The Return to Earth

Summary
Savitri’s spirit awakes front the deep trance. She finds herself on the calm breast of the earth-mother with green branches above guarding her sleep. Evening is near.She holds the living body of Satyavan close to herself, bearing his head on her bosom.The remoteness of the trance has passed and Savitri is once more human. And yet she feels an illimitable change. A new Power, a new Bliss, a new Light are in her.She leans over Satyavan and touches his closed eyelids whereupon he awakes to find her eyes gazing into his. Vaguely he recollects some wonderful experience, and with his arms encircling her, asks her from where she has brought him back, captive of her love, to this sunny earth. He continues:"Surely I have travelled in strange worlds along with thee, pursued by a spirit. We have together scorned the gates of night. Where has that formidable Shape, claiming the world for Death, gone? Was it all a dream or was it some spiritual vision?"Savitri answers: "Our parting was a dream. That we are together, that we are alive, is a fact. Our souls have left Death’s night behind; we have stood at the Godhead’s gates."Satyavan looks at her silently and is filled with wonder. With a new flame of worship in his eyes he asks her what high change has come over her. "Even before thou went a goddess, but still thy sweet human parts made thee dearer. Now thou seemest too high and great for mortal worship."Savitri: "All now is changed and yet all is the same. We have looked upon the face of God, we have borne identity with the Supreme. Our love has grown greater by that touch, but nothing is lost of mortal love’s delight. I am Savitri. All that I was to thee before that I am still to thee. Now grief is dead, serene bliss alone remains. Let us give joy to all in this wonderful world. We are born to lead man’s soul towards Truth and God."The dusk gathers. Suddenly from all sides there is a medley of human sounds. Many voices and footsteps are heard approaching. A great resplendent company arrives headed by Dyumathsena, no longer blind, no longer weak-limbed, but walking with a royal gait. By his side is the queen. They are looking about them anxiously. The queen is the first to espy the forms of her children Satyavan and Savitri. They hurry towards them and Dyumathsena tenderly chides Satyavan telling him how though the gods have smiled on him by giving him back his kingdom and his sight, he has no use for them without his child who is his life. He tells Savitri that it was unlike her not to have led back Satyavan to his parents earlier.Satyavan smilingly asks him to lay all the blame on Savitri as he is her captive. He then hints how he has wandered through far-off eternities and is now back on this little hillock called earth only because of her.AU eyes turn to Savitri who blushes deeply and lowers her eyes. All wonder at her luminous glow.One who seems to be a priest and sage asks her:"What light, what power revealed by thee has opened a happier age for us?"Savitri looks at them with a deep motherly love and replies:"To feel love and oneness is to live; this is the magic of our golden change. This is all the truth I know or seek. O sage."They wonder at her and her luminous words. Then all turn westwards towards home as the night gathers. Soon with the moon dreaming in heaven in silver peace, assumes her lull reign. She broods on a thought guarded by her mystic folds of light and nurses in her bosom a greater Dawn.

Savitri Awakes

Out of abysmal trance her spirit woke.

Lain on the earth-mother’s calm inconscient breast
She saw the green-clad branches lean above
Guarding her sleep with their enchanted life,
And overhead a blue-winged ecstasy
Fluttered from bough to bough with high-pitched call.

Savitri’s spirit awakes from its profound trance. She finds herself lying on the calm inconscient bosom of the earth-mother. Green-leaved branches lean down on her guarding her sleep with their wonder-life. Above, the blue-winged birds in ecstasy flutter from bough to bough with their shrill notes.

Day Sets

Into the magic secrecy of the woods
Peering through an emerald lattice-window of leaves,
In indolent skies reclined, the thinning day
Turned to its slow fall into evening’s peace.

Peering through the green intricacies of leaves, the day is reclining in the indolent skies: slowly it sets into the evening’s peace.

Blissful Burden

She pressed the living body of Satyavan:
On her body’s wordless joy to be and breathe
She bore the blissful burden of his head
Between her breasts’ warm labour of delight,
The waking gladness of her members felt
The weight of heaven in his limbs, a touch
Summing the whole felicity of things,
And all her life was conscious of his life
And all her being rejoiced enfolding his.

Savitri presses the living body of Satyavan to herself. A silent joy of living and breathing courses through her body. She bears the blissful burden of Satyaran’s head between her loving breasts. Her members with conscious felicity feel the happy weight of his limbs, feel in their touch the whole delight of things. All her life is conscious of his life, one with it. All her being rejoices enveloping his.

Illimitable Change in Savitri

The immense remoteness of her trance had passed;
Human she was once more, earth’s Savitri,
Yet felt in her illimitable change.

A power dwelt in her soul too great for earth,
A bliss lived in her heart too large for heaven.

The vast remoteness of her trance passes. She is once more human, Savitri of the earth. And yet she is aware of a boundless change in herself. In her soul now dwells a power that is too great for earth; in her heart there is now a bliss that is too large even for heaven.

Her Divine Passivity

Light too intense for thought and love too boundless
For earth’s emotions lit her skies of mind
And spread through her deep and happy seas of soul.

All that is sacred in the world drew near
To her divine passivity of mood.

A light that is too intense for thought to bear, a love too boundless for earth’s emotions to hold light up the skies of her mind and spread through the deep and happy seas of her soul. Her mood is divinely passive and all that is sacred in the world draws near to her,

Whole World Clings to Her

A marvellous voice of silence breathed its thoughts.

All things in time and space she had taken for hers;
In her they moved, by her they lived and were,
The whole wide world clung to her for delight,
Created for her rapt embrace of love.

A wonderful voice of silence casts its thoughts around. Savitri takes as her own all things that are in Time and Space. They move in her, they live and exist by her. The whole world clings to her for delight as though created for the rapt embrace of her love.

Beyond Space and Time

Now in her spaceless self released from bounds
Unnumbered years seemed moments long drawn out,
The brilliant time-flakes of eternity.

Outwingings of a bird from its bright home,
Her earthly morns were radiant flights of joy.

Now in her self which has outgrown Space countless years look like stretched moments, brilliant lime-bits of eternity. Her earthly morns are radiant flights of joy like the outflights of a bird from its bright home.

Past, Present, Future

Boundless she was, a form of infinity.

Absorbed no longer by the moment’s beat
Her spirit the unending future felt
And lived with all the unbeginning past.

She is boundless. a veritable form of infinity. No longer involved in the moment of the present, her spirit feels one with the endless future and lives with all the past without beginning.

Vision of Prescient Hours

Her life was a dawn’s victorious opening,
The past and unborn days had joined their dreams,
Old vanished eves and far arriving noons
Hinted to her a vision of prescient hours.

Her life is the victorious advent of a dawn; the past and the future join their dreams in her. Old long past eves and noons yet to arrive from far cast before her glimpses of prophetic time.

Musing Bliss

Supine in musing bliss she lay awhile
Given to the wonder of a waking trance;
Half-risen then she sent her gaze around,
As if to recover old sweet trivial threads,
Old happy thoughts, small treasured memories,
And weave them into one immortal day.

For a while she lives supine in absorbing bliss lost in the wonder of a wakeful trance. Then, half-awake, she glances around as though to regain the old sweet trivial threads, old happy thoughts, small cherished memories, and weave them all together into one immortal day.

Her Loved One

Ever she held on the paradise of her breast
Her lover charmed into a fathomless sleep,
Lain like an infant spirit unaware
Lulled on the verge of two consenting worlds.

She holds on the paradise of her breast her beloved who is under the spell of a profound sleep, lying like an infant unaware. lulled on the border of two hospitable worlds — earth and heaven.

She calls his Mind Back

But soon she leaned down over her loved to call
His mind back to her with her travelling touch
On his closed eyelids; settled was her still look
Of strong delight, not yearning now, but large
With limitless joy or sovereign last content,
Pure, passionate with the passion of the gods.

Soon she leans down over Satyavan, her loved one, to call his mind hack to her with her vibrating touch on his closed eyelids. There is no longer any yearning in her eyes; hers is a settled, calm look of powerful delight, large with unbounded joy, sovereignly content at last, pure, passionate with the passion of the gods.

Quiet Rapture

Desire stirred not its wings; for all was made
An overarching of celestial rays
Like the absorbed control of sky on plain,
Heaven’s leaning down to embrace from all sides earth,
A quiet rapture, a vast security.

There is no movement of desire. Like the rapt control of the sky over the plains below, a canopy of celestial rays of light has formed overhead; heaven leans down to embrace earth from all sides; there is a quiet rapture, a vast security.

Satyavan Awakes

Then sighing to her touch the soft-winged sleep
Rose hovering from his flower-like lids and flew
Murmurous away. Awake, he found her eyes
Waiting for his, and felt her hands, and saw
The earth his home given back to him once more
And her made his again, his passion’s all.

At her touch sleep responds and softly wings away. As he awakes, Satyavan finds Savitri’s eyes expectantly waiting for his; he feels her hands; he sees that the earth, his home, has been given back to him once more and she, who has all his love, has been made his once again.

Vaguely Recollects Wonder

With his arms’ encircling hold around her locked,
A living knot to make possession close,
He murmured with hesitating lips her name,
And vaguely recollecting wonder cried,

With his arms encircling her — a living knot to ensure the closeness of his possession — he murmurs her name with hesitating lips and vaguely remembering some past wonder, cries:

Whence hast thou brought me

“Whence hast thou brought me captive back, love-chained,
To thee and sun-light’s walls, O golden beam
And casket of all sweetness, Savitri,
Godhead and woman, moonlight of my soul?

"O golden beam and casket of all sweetness, Savitri, Godhead and woman, moonlight of my soul, from where hast thou brought me back thy captive, chained by thy love, back to thee and the bright sunlight’s walls?

I have Travelled

For surely I have travelled in strange worlds
By thee companioned, a pursuing spirit,
Together we have disdained the gates of night;
I have turned away from the celestial’s joy
And heaven’s insufficient without thee.

"Surely I have travelled in strange worlds with thee as my companion, pursuing me. Together we have scorned entering the gates of night. l have refused heaven’s joy; for without thee by my side heaven has no attraction for me.

Was it a Dream?

Where now has passed that formidable Shape
Which rose against us? the Spirit of the Void,
Claiming the world for Death and Nothingness,
Denying God and Soul? Or was all a dream
Or a vision seen in a spiritual sleep,
A symbol of the oppositions of Time

Where has gone that formidable Shape, the Spirit of the Void, which rose against us which claimed the world for Death and Nothingness, denying the existence of God and Soul? Or was it all a dream or may be, a vision in a spiritual sleep symbolising the oppositions posed in the process of Time?

Beacon of Significance

Or a mind-lit beacon of significance
In some stress of darkness lighting on the Way
Or guiding a swimmer through the straits of Death,
Or finding with the succour of its ray
In a gully mid the crowded streets of Chance
The soul that into the world-adventure came,
A scout and voyager from Eternity?”

"Or was it a flare lit by the mind with a purpose, throwing light on the Way on some patch of darkness or guiding the swimmer through the dangerous straits of Death or with the needed help of its ray, finding in a ditch amid the crowded thoroughfares of Chance the soul that came into the world-adventure, a scout and traveller from Eternity?"

Our Parting was the Dream

But she replied, “Our parting was the dream;
We are together, we live, O Satyavan.

Look round thee and behold, glad and unchanged
Our home, this forest, with its thousand cries
And the whisper of the wind among the leaves
And, through rifts in emerald scene, the evening sky,
God’s canopy of blue sheltering our lives,
And the birds crying for heart’s happiness,
Winged poets of our solitary reign,
Our friends on earth where we are king and queen.

But Savitri replies: "Our parting was the dream. We are here together, we live, O Satyavan. Look around and see how happy and unchanged is this our home, this forest, with its thousand cries, and the whisper of the wind among the leaves; look at the evening sky through the openings in the greenery of the forest — God’s blue canopy sheltering our lives; look at the birds singing out of their heart’s happiness, winged minstrels of our solitary reign here, our friends on earth where we are king and queen.

Death’s night left Behind

Only our souls have left Death’s night behind
Changed by a mighty dream’s reality,
Illumined by the light of symbol worlds
And the stupendous summit self of things,
And stood at Godhead’s gates limitless, free.”

The only change that has taken place is that our souls have left behind the night of Death. They have been changed by the reality of a mighty dream; they have been illumined by the light of subtle symbol worlds and the stupendous highest self of things; they have stood at the gates of the Godhead, limitless, free.

New Flame of Worship

Then filled with the glory of their happiness
They rose and with safe clinging fingers locked
Hung on each other in a silent look.

But he with a new wonder in his heart
And a new flame of worship in his eyes:

Full of the joy of their happiness, both arise with their fingers safely interlocked; they wail upon each other’s silent look. A new wonder fills the heart of Satyavan at the sight of Savitri and with a new Paine of worship in his eyes, he speaks to her:

What high Change

“What high change is in thee, O Savitri? Bright
Ever thou wast, a goddess still and pure,
Yet dearer to me by thy sweet human parts
Earth gave thee making thee yet more divine.

My adoration mastered, my desire
Bent down to make its subject, my daring clasped,
Claiming by body and soul my life’s estate,
Rapture’s possession, love’s sweet property,
A statue of silence in my templed spirit,
A yearning godhead and a golden bride.

What high change has taken place in thee, O Savitri! Thou wert always a goddess, calm and pure, and yet thou well dearer to me because of the sweet human parts that the earth gave to thee, making thee yet more divine on that account. Thou hast mastered my adoration, bent my desire making it thy subject, clasped my daring spirit, claimed my life’s estate through my body and soul Thou hast been a possession of utter rapture, a sweet property of love, a veritable statue of silence in this temple of my spirit, a yearning godhead, a golden bride.

Earthly Keeper of my Soul

But now thou seemst almost too high and great
For mortal worship; Time lies below thy feet
And the whole world seems only a part of thee,
Thy presence the hushed heaven I inhabit,
And thou lookst on me in the gaze of the stars,
Yet art the earthly keeper of my soul,
My life a whisper of thy dreaming thoughts,
My morns a gleaming of thy spirit’s wings,
And day and night are of thy beauty part.

But now, O Savitri, thou seemest too high, too great for human worship to reach thee; thou seemest to be beyond me. Time lies stretched below thy feet; the entire world seems to be only a small part of thee. Thy presence in which I live is now a hushed heaven; in thy gaze on me is the distance of the stars. And yet, withal, thou art the earthly guardian of my soul; my life is a soft echo of thy own dreaming thoughts, my mornings are gleamings of thy spirit’s soaring wings, my day and night are part of thy beauty.

By thee Greatened my Mortal Arc

Hast thou not taken my heart to treasure it
In the secure environment of thy breast?

Awakened from the silence and the sleep,
I have consented for thy sake to be.

By thee I have greatened my mortal arc of life,
But now far heaven’s unmapped infinitudes
Thou hast brought me thy illimitable gift.

"Hast thou not taken my heart to treasure it in thy safe breast? Brought back to life from the silence and the sleep, I have consented to live for thy sake. By thee I have increased my mortal span of life, but now thou halt brought me thy boundless gift — the uncharted infinities of the distant heavens.

My Human Earth Demands thy Bliss

If to fill these thou lift thy sacred flight,
My human earth will still demand thy bliss:
Make still my life through thee a song of joy
And all my silence wide and deep with thee.”

"If now thou went to soar high to till these infinitudes, my human earth will still ask for thy bliss. Make my life through thee a song of joy, make all my silence wide and deep with thee."

Heavenly Queen Consents to his Will

A heavenly queen consenting to his will,
She clasped his feet by her enshrining hair
Enveloped in a velvet cloak of love,
And answered softly like a murmuring lute:

A celestial queen consenting to his human will, Savitri clasps Satyavan’s feet, her enveloping hair covering them in a soft cloak of love, and answers gently like a murmuring lute.

All is Changed and yet the Same

“All now is changed, yet all is still the same.

Lo, we have looked upon the face of God,
Our life has opened with divinity.

We have borne identity with the Supreme
And known his meaning in our mortal lives.

All is now changed and yet, in a sense, all is still the same. Lo, we have gazed direct upon the face of God, our life has blossomed with his divinity. We have attained identity with the Supreme and known his purpose in our mortal lives here.

Heaven’s Touch Fulfils

Our love has grown greater by that mighty touch
And learnt its heavenly significance,
Yet nothing is lost of mortal love’s delight.

Heaven’s touch fulfils but cancels not our earth:
Our bodies need each other in the same last;
Still in our breasts repeat heavenly secret rhythm
Our human heart-beats passionately close.

"Our love has grown greater by that mighty touch of the Supreme and learnt its higher, diviner significance, and yet it has not lost anything of the delight of mortal love. Indeed, the touch of heaven does not abolish our earth-being and our earth nature. Our bodies need each other for the ultimate complete fulfilment. Our passionately intimate human heart-beats repeat only the secret rhythm of heaven.

I am the same Savitri

Still am I she who came to thee mid the murmur
Of sunlit leaves upon this forest verge;
I am the Madran, I am Savitri.

All that I was before, I am to thee still,
Close comrade of thy thoughts and hopes and toils,
All happy contraries I would join for thee.

"I am still the same daughter of Madra, the same Savitri who came to thee on the border of this forest amid the rustle of the bright leaves. All that I was before, that I continue to be to thee, close comrade of thy thoughts, hopes and toils. I would make all the happy contraries of life one for thee.

All Sweet Relation

All sweet relations marry in our life,
I am thy kingdom even as thou art mine,
The sovereign and the slave of thy desire,
Thy prone possessor, the sister of thy soul
And mother of thy wants; thou art my world,
The earth I need, the heaven my thoughts desire,
The world I inhabit and the god I adore.

"Ail happy relations come together in our life.I am thy kingdom even as thou art mine; I am both the master and the slave of thy desire; I yield to thee and yet I am thy possessor; I am companion-sister to thy soul and mother to thy wants. Thou art my world, thou art the warm earth that I need, thou art also the heaven that my thoughts desire. Thou art the world that I inhabit, thou art the god whom I adore and worship.

Counterparts

Thy body is my body’s counterpart
Whose every limb my answering limb desires,
Whose heart is key to all my heart-beats,—this
I am and thou to me, O Satyavan.

"Thy body is the counterpart of mine, every limb of which is desired by my responding limb. Thy heart holds the key to all my heart-beats. This, O Satyavan, I am to thee and thou to me.

Wedded Walk Anew

Our wedded walk through life begins anew,
No gladness lost, no depth of mortal joy;
Let us go through this new world that is the same.

"Our wedded journey through life now begins afresh with no gladness lost, no depth of mortal joy lessened. Though this world is the same, it feels new to us; let us together journey through it.

Playground of God

For it is given back, but it is known,
A playing ground and dwelling house of God
Who hides himself in bird and beast and man
Sweetly to find himself again by love,
By oneness. His presence leads the rhythms of life
That seek for mutual joy in spite of pain.

The world is given hack to us, but now we know it as a playground and abode of God who hides himself in various forms — bird. Beast, man — happily to discover himself by love, by oneness. It is his presence that moves and leads the rhythms of life which seek for joy in each other despite pain.

We have found each other

We have each other found, O Satyavan,
In the great light of the discovered soul.

Let us go back, for eve is in the skies.

Now grief is dead and serene bliss remains
The heart of all our days for ever more.

"O Satyavan, we have found the truth of each other in the great light of the unveiled soul. Let us now go back home for the evening is on. Grief is now dead and only serene bliss remains, the bliss that will be the heart of all our days to come.

Let us give Joy to All

Lo, all these beings in this wonderful world!

Let us give joy to all, for joy is ours.

For not for ourselves alone our spirits came
Out of the veil of the Unmanifest,
Out of the deep immense Unknowable
On the ignorant breast of dubious earth
Into the ways of labouring, seeking men,
Two fires that burn towards that parent Sun,
Two rays that travel to the original Light.

"Look at all these beings in this marvellous world Let us hasten to give joy to all of them, for joy is ours. Our spirits did not come for our sake alone from out of the veil of the Unmanifest Existence, from out of the profound, immense Unknowable, upon the ignorant breast of this ambiguous earth of striving, seeking humans. Our spirits arc two form that blaze towards the parent Sun above, two rays that travel to the primal Light of the Spirit.

We are born to lead Man’s Soul to God

To lead man’s soul towards Truth and God we are born,
To draw the chequered scheme of mortal life
Into some semblance of the Immortal’s plan,
To shape it closer to an image of God,
A little nearer to the Idea divine.”

"We are born to Lead man’s soul towards Truth and God. to draw the broken pattern of mortal life into some likeness to the plan of the Immortal Creator, to shape nearer to the image of God, a little nearer to the Real, Divine Idea that is the base of the creation."

Two-Bodied for the joy of Time

She closed her arms about his breast and head
As if to keep him on her bosom worn
For ever through the journeying of the years.

So for a while they stood entwined, their kiss
And passion-tranced embrace a meeting point
In their commingling spirits, one for ever,
Two-souled, two-bodied for the joys of time.

Savitri closes her arms about Satyavan’s breast and head as if to keep him on her bosom for ever. Thus for a while they stand entwined, their kiss and their intensely passionate embrace forms the junction of their happily mingling spirits though one for ever, to draw the joy of life in time they are two-souled, two-bodied.

They leave the Solemn Place

Then hand in hand they left that solemn place
Full now of mute unusual memories,
To the green distance of their sylvan home
Returning slowly through the forest’s heart:
Round them the afternoon to evening changed;
Light slipped down to the brightly sleeping verge,
And the birds came back winging to their nests,
And day and night leaned to each other’s arms.

Then hand in hand they leave that solemn place, now full of the mute, strange memories of what has just passed, returning slowly through the heart of the forest, to their sylvan home across the green tract. The afternoon changes into evening light fades rapidly; birds come back winging to their nest-homes ; day and night lean towards each other.

Pensive Evening

Now the dusk shadowy trees stood close around
Like dreaming spirits and delaying night,
The grey-eyed pensive evening heard their steps,
And from all points the cries and movements came
Of the four-footed wanderers of the night
Approaching…

Trees in dusk-shadows stand close around like spirits dreaming and delaying the night; the grey-visioned pensive evening, hears their footsteps. And from all quarters come the cries and movements of the approaching beasts of prey wanderers of the night.

Human Rumour

…Then a human rumour rose
Long alien to their solitary days,
Invading the charmed wilderness of leaves,
Once sacred to secluded loneliness,
With violent breaking of its virgin sleep.

Then come up loud human sounds foreign to the solitude to which Savitri and Satyavan have been so long accustomed, invading the enchanted wilderness of the trees sacred to eremite loneliness, breaking violently its unbroken sleep.

Many Voices and Sound of Feet

Through the screened dusk it deepened still and there neared
Floating of many voices and the sound
Of many feet till on their sight broke in,
As if a coloured wave upon the eye,
The brilliant strenuous crowded life of man.

The human sounds deepen through the thickening dusk, many voices float in and the sound of many feet too, till like a coloured wave upon the eye, the brilliant, vigorous crowded life of man breaks in upon their sight.

Resplendent Company

Topped by a flaring multitude of lights
A great resplendent company arrived.

Life in its ordered tumult wavering came
Bringing its stream of unknown faces, thronged
With gold-fringed headdresses, gold-broidered robes,
Glittering of ornaments, fluttering of hems,
Hundreds of hands parted the forest-boughs,
Hundreds of eyes searched the entangled glades.

Under the flare of crowded lights a brilliant company of men arrives. It is a fluctuating invasion by life in its organised tumult; it brings its stream of new, unknown faces, with gold-fringed head-dresses, gold-embroidered robes, shining ornaments, fluttering, hems. Hundreds of hands part the branches of the forest trees to make way, hundreds of eyes scan the landed passages.

King Dyumathsena with Monarch Steps

Calm white-clad priests their grave-eyed sweetness brought,
Strong warriors in their glorious armour shone,
The proud-hooved steeds came trampling through the wood.

In front King Dyumathsena walked, no more
Blind, faltering limbed, but his far-questing eyes
Restored to all their confidence in light
Took seeingly this imaged outer world;
Firmly he trod with monarch steps the soil.

There are calm white-robed priests with sweetness in their grave eyes, strong warriors shining in their glorious armour, proud galloping steeds trampling through the forest. In their front walks King Dyumathsena, no longer blind or stumbling; his far-scanning eyes, fully recovered in their mastery of light, are taking in the image of this outer world. He treads the soil with regal steps.

Queen

By him that queen and mother’s anxious face
Came changed from its habitual burdened look
Which in its drooping strength of tired toil
Had borne the fallen life of those she loved.

By his side is the queen, her face anxious but quite changed from its customary burdened look which, till then in its failing strength of tired toil, had endured in the life of those she had loved a fall from glory.

Pensive Glow

Her patient paleness wore a pensive glow
Like evening’s subdued gaze of gathered light
Departing, which foresees sunrise her child.

The brilliance of her rich receding gleam
A thoughtful prophecy of lyric dawn,
She lives awhile to muse upon that hope
Sinking in quiet splendours of her sky.

Her patient paleness has a thoughtful glow like evening’s subdued collected light which while departing foresees the sunrise, her child to come. The brilliance of the evening’s rich receding gleam is a thoughtful prophecy of the lyric dawn that is coming. She pauses a while to muse upon that hope sinking in the quiet splendours of her sky.

Vision of the Beautiful Twain

Her eyes were first to find her children’s forms.

But at the vision of the beautiful twain
The air awoke perturbed with scaling cries,
And the swift parents hurrying to their child,—
Their cause of life now who had given him breath,—
Possessed him with their arms. …

The queen is the first to glimpse the forms of her children. At the sight of the beautiful pair, mounting cries disturb the air and the swift parents hurry to their child — he to whom they had given birth and who now becomes the cause of their revived life — and fold him in their arms.

Dyumathsena Chides

…Then tenderly
Cried Dyumathsena chiding Satyavan:
“The fortunate gods have looked on me today,
A kingdom seeking came and heaven’s rays.

But where wast thou? Thou hast tormented gladness
With fear’s dull shadow, O my child, my life.

Then Dyumathsena chides Satyavan tenderly: "The gods of fortune have smiled on me today. My kingdom has been restored to me and also my sight. But where wast thou? Thou hast tormented my gladness with the dull shadow of fear. O my child, my life.

Eyes are useless Orbs without Thee

What danger kept thee for the darkening woods?

Or how could pleasure in her ways forget
That useless orbs without thee are my eyes
Which only for thy sake rejoice at light.

"What was the danger that detained thee in the darkening woods? How could pleasure as she came to me forget that without thee my eyes are useless orbs since it is only to see thee that they rejoice at light?

Not like Thyself, Savitri

Not like thyself was this done, Savitri,
Who ledst not back thy husband to our arms,
Knowing with him beside me only is taste
In food and for his touch evening and morn
I live content with my remaining days.”

"And, Savitri, this is not like thyself, not to have brought back thy husband to our arms knowing as thou dust that only when he is by my side do I have taste in food, and can live content, morning and evening, through the days still left to me."

She is the Cause of all

But Satyavan replied with smiling lips,
“Lay all on her; she is the cause of all.

With her enchantments she has twined me round.

Behold, at noon leaving this house of clay
I wandered in far-off eternities,
Yet still, a captive in her golden hands,
I tread your little hillock called green earth
And in the moments of your transient sun
Live glad among the busy works of men.”

Satyavan replies smilingly:"Lay all the blame on her, she is the cause of all. She has tied rue round with her enchantments. Leaving this little house of earth-matter at noon, I wandered in far-off eternities. But still, a prisoner in her golden hands, I walk on your little hillock, the green earth, and in the fleeting moments of your transient sun I live glad among the busy activities of men."

All Eyes Turn

Then all eyes turned their wondering looks where stood
A deepening redder gold upon her cheeks,
With lowered lids the noble lovely child,
And one consenting thought moved every breast:

All eyes turn wonderingly where the noble lovely child stands with her cheeks blushing red-gold in hue, eye-lids lowered. One spontaneous thought arises in every one.

Gleaming Marvel by Satyavan’s Side

“What gleaming marvel of the earth or skies
Stands silently by human Satyavan
To mark a brilliance in the dusk of eve?

If this is she of whom the world has heard,
Wonder no more at any happy change.

Each easy miracle of felicity
Of her transmuting heart the alchemy is.”

"What shining wonder of the earth or skies is standing silently by the side of the human Satyavan, a point of glowing radiance in this dusk of eve? If this is she of whom the world has beard so much, then wonder no more at any happy change. Every easy miracle of felicity that takes place can only be an alchemy of her transmuting heart. Trace every happy change, every miracle to her."

Happier age by Thee

Then one spoke there who seemed a priest and sage,
“O woman soul, what light, what power revealed,
Working the rapid marvels of this day,
Opens for us by thee a happier age?”

Then one who seems to be either a priest or a sage speaks:"O woman soul, what is the light, what is the revealed power, that has worked the rapid marvels of this great day and by thee ushered in for us, a happier age hence¬forth ?

Her Vision

Her lashes fluttering upwards gathered in
To a vision which had scanned immortal things,
Rejoicing, human forms for their delight.

They claimed for their deep childlike motherhood
The life of all these souls to be her life,
Then falling veiled the light. …

Savitri looks up and into her vision which has scanned immortal things, she gathers rejoicingly the human forms around her for their joy. Raising her lashes she claims with a look of deep, childlike motherhood the life of all these gathered souls as her own life. Then the lashes fall and veil the light in her eyes.

Magic of Golden Change

… Low she replied,
“Awakened to the meaning of my heart
That to feel love and oneness is to live
And this the magic of our golden change
Is all the truth I know or seek, O sage.”

She answers in low tones:"I am awakened to the message of my heart which tells me that to feel love and oneness with all is to live truly; this is the magic of our golden change.This, O sage, is all the truth l know or seek".

All Wonder

Wondering at her and her too luminous words
Westward they turned in the fast gathering night.

All wonder at Savitri and her words too luminous for them; then they turn westwards, towards their home in the fast gathering night.

Nights Solitude Broken

From the entangling verges freed they came
Into a dimness of the sleeping earth
And travelled through her faint and slumbering plains.

Murmur and movement and the tread of men
Broke the night’s solitude,…

Freed from the entangling growths of the forest they all step into a dim opening of the sleeping earth and journey through her faint and slumbering plains. The solitude the night is broken by the murmur, movement and the tread of men.

Chariots Homeward Voice

… The neigh of steeds
Rose from the indistinct and voiceful sea
Of life and all along its marchings swelled
The rhyme of hooves, the chariot’s homeward voice.

The neighing of horses rises above the vague and noisy movements of a sea of men: all through their marching swells the trampling rhyme of the hooves of the horses and the vigorous voice of the chariot going homewards.

To the Many-Voiced Human World

Drawn by white manes upon a high-roofed car
In flare of the unsteady torches went
With linked hands Satyavan and Savitri,
Hearing a marriage march and nuptial hymn,
Where waited them the many-voiced human world.

Seated in a high-roofed car drawn by white steeds in the flare of moving torches in that dark night, Satyavan and Savitri, hands linked, hearing the marriage march and nuptial hymn, go to meet the many-voiced human world that awaits them.

Night Possesses her Reign

Numberless the stars swam on their shadowy field
Describing in the gloom the ways of light.

Then while they skirted yet the southward verge,
Lost in the halo of her musing brows
Night, splendid with the moon dreaming in heaven
In silver peace, possessed her luminous reign.

Stars without number move upon their darkening field, drawing lines of light in that gloom of darkness. Then while they turn round the southern edge, the night deepens. Lost in the glow of her thoughtful brows, splendid with the moon dreaming in heaven in silvery peace, night fully assumes her luminous reign.

Night Nurses a Greater Dawn

She brooded through her stillness on a thought
Deep-guarded by her mystic folds of light,
And in her bosom nursed a greater dawn.

Through her stillness, Night broods on a thought which is deeply guarded by her mystic folds of light and she nurses in her bosom a greater dawn.