Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Vol 8 Part 9

Who walks on all feet,

Whose body are all ye,

Him wors.h.i.+p, and break all other idols!

He who is at once the high and low,

The sinner and the saint,

Both G.o.d and worm,

Him wors.h.i.+p - visible, knowable, real, omnipresent, Break all other idols!

In whom is neither past life

Nor future birth nor death,

In whom we always have been And always shall be one,

Him wors.h.i.+p. Break all other idols!

Ye fools! who neglect the living G.o.d,

And His infinite reflections with which the world is full. While ye run after imaginary shadows, That lead alone to fights and quarrels, Him wors.h.i.+p, the only visible!

Break all other idols!

TO AN EARLY VIOLET.

(Written to a Western lady-disciple from New York, 6th January 1896.) What though thy bed be frozen earth, Thy cloak the chilling blast;

What though no mate to cheer thy path, Thy sky with gloom o'ercast;

What though if love itself doth fail, Thy fragrance strewed in vain;

What though if bad o'er good prevail, And vice o'er virtue reign:

Change not thy nature, gentle bloom, Thou violet, sweet and pure,

But ever pour thy sweet perfume Unasked, unstinted, sure!

TO MY OWN SOUL.

(Composed at Ridgely Manor, New York, in 1899.) Hold yet a while, Strong Heart,

Not part a lifelong yoke

Though blighted looks the present, future gloom.

And age it seems since you and I began our March up hill or down. Sailing smooth o'er Seas that are so rare -

Thou nearer unto me, than oft-times I myself - Proclaiming mental moves before they were!

Reflector true - Thy pulse so timed to mine, Thou perfect note of thoughts, however fine - Shall we now part, Recorder, say?

In thee is friends.h.i.+p, faith,

For thou didst warn when evil thoughts were brewing - And though, alas, thy warning thrown away,

Went on the same as ever - good and true.

THE DANCE OF s.h.i.+VA.

(Translated from a Bengali song.) Lo, the G.o.d is dancing

- s.h.i.+va the all-destroyer and Lord of creation, The Master of Yoga and the wielder of Pinka. (Trident.) His flaming locks have filled the sky,