The emissary of Death appeared, O Destroyer, all of a sudden
From your palace. He led me to your vast precinct.
Mine eyes met darkness; I could not gaze how that light
Was absent in the piles of obscurity inside the heart of hearts,
That light which is the splendour of the cosmic Splendour;
Mine own shadow veiled my view. The ritual hymn of that light
Shall reverberate from the deep cavern of my being
In the luminous sphere at the frontier of creation, where
I had been invited. I shall assume the extreme dignity of the poet
On the theatre of life, for which I had learnt to vocalise.
The lute of the Terrible23 lay silent,
mute was the new melody of the dawn24,
At the bottom of the mind emerged no serene face of the Dreadful.
Hence you turned me away. When once again you shall return,
Much like ripe fruits, heavy with plentiful joy,
In silence, the words of the poet shall fall
On the Infinite's offering tray. At last shall be fulfilled
The final value of life, the final trip and the final invitation.
[ Prantik, "The Border Land", No. 10, 1937]
23 rudra-veena
24 bhairav, a morning raga with two diminished degrees (Db and Ab)