-59_Old Bengali Mystic PoemsIndex-61_The Play on Earth

-60_The Descent

THE GOLDEN JOURNEY

THE GOLDEN JOURNEY

 


HE AND SHE

THE MUSICIAN ANGEL

FOUR GODS OR GODDESSES

FOUR CHILDREN

FOUR MAID SERVANTS

Two INITIATES

THE CROWD OF EARTHLY BEINGS

THE NEW BEING

 

The Two-in-One play all the roles in the eternal round of a manifestation which enriches itself ceaselessly – the Golden Cycle.

    It is He: the child, the traveller, the lover, the disciple, the triumphant, the holocaust – the One, the Beloved.

    It is She: the mother, the tree, the comrade, the bride, the master, the adversary – the One, the Beloved.

 

The New Being incarnates, in a new cycle, their manifestation in a single body. 

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Act I: The Descent

 

SCENE I: THE TWO-IN-ONE

 

The Dance of the Golden Journey

 

HE                               Diadem of dream!

SHE                             Diadem of dream!

HE                               Arabesque of dream!

SHE                             Arabesque of dream!

HE                               The Universes!

SHE                             The Universes!

HE                               Their myriads of stars!

SHE                             Their myriads of stars!

HE                               Here passes the High Way of Time. . .

SHE                             . . . the Way of the Spaces. . .

HE                               We have lost our way,

already Night has cast her golden gauntlet between us.

SHE                             Her gauntlet of suns.

HE                               Her gauntlet challenging our Light.

 

The Dance of the Primordial Sun

 

HE                               The Night slowly distinguishes us.

SHE                             Two colours mingled at their source.

HE                               The Night slowly separates us one from the other.

SHE                             Even as the two hands of one body.

HE                               What is this force,

Oh, sweet strange force that separates us!

SHE                             So then at last we are two.

 

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HE                               So then at last we are two.

 

The Dance of Contemplation

 

The Dance of the Double Star

 

HE                               The Night takes us away from each other.

SHE                             Drift of nebulae.

Drift of stars, of continents.

HE                               Drift of atoms.

 

The Dance of the Joyful Separation

 

SCENE 2: THE JOYFUL SEPARATION

 

HE                               My beauty Mirror!

My All-Beauty!

My Queen!

We shall plunge into the eternal Night.

It is our choice, our happiness.

Like two glad children

we shall go

 

 

to play in the eternal garden of the Earth.

See, how beautiful she is!

 

We are already there.

We have been always there.

It is we who play all the roles.

But for that we must separate.

Take this flower,

the token of my eternal Presence.

 

The Dance of the Eternal Presence

 

Look, how beautiful is the earth!

 

SCENE 3: THE INTERMEDIARY WORLDS

 

First Tableau: The World of the Gods

 

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HE                               My Splendour, I follow you.

What a robe of light dances behind you!

On it my barque reposes,

tranquil or wild,

immobile or whirling.

            Do you not turn back?

            SHE                             'Tis you who lead me!

            HE                               Would you stop the march of the stars,

hold up the cascade in its fall,

turn to stone the flight of millions of wings!

            SHE                             I would turn back

to our beautiful abode

beyond the worlds.

HE                               All these young gods

on the way towards the earth.

They will play there our beautiful plays!

We have chosen the golden Night!

Come!

 

Second Tableau: The Jewels

 

SHE                             These flowers

and the robe, the crown,

the golden girdle of our embodiments,

the dancing smile of our soul

await us here.

Their gentle caress envelops us.

 

Dance of the Jewels

 

Here all are children. New eyes,

a new heart

to look at the world.

 

All we have seen so often

we must forget.

Then,

everything comes to us

to be discovered. 

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Every crystal opens a world of marvels.

The grass, the river sings of happiness;

and every drop of water holds the Beloved.

 

Instead of being Two

we are myriads

to love each other.

 

HE                               Myriads. . .

SHE                             . . . and myriads,

myriads, myriads, myriads,

myriads. 

 

SCENE 4: THE INCARNATION 

 

MAID              Courage, Madam.

He will be beautiful like his late father.

 

THE MOTHER            I have all the courage of a queen,

and of a mother and of a spouse

and of a faithful servant.

I have the courage of a lioness,

of a prophetess.

 

Dance at the Cradle

 

THE MOTHER            I have seen him this night,

big and strong,

my child,

our king.

He is all who are of his line.

He is the whole dynasty.

He is the earth also,

and I cannot say why.

 

He is the new beginning of everything.

He is Renewal itself. 

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What is it?

Was I speaking?

 

MAID              Be quiet, Madam,

You are restless!

 

THE MOTHER            Now is the moment.

 

MAID              Come! Women!

Here and welcome our King! 

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