I look across the world and no horizon walls my gaze;
I see Paris and Tokio* and NewYork,
I see the bombs bursting on Barcelona and on Canton Streets.
Man's numberless misdeeds and rare good deeds take place within my
single
self.
I am the beast he slays, the bird he feeds and saves.
The thoughts of unknown minds exalt me with their thrill,
I carry the sorrow of millions in my lonely breast.
(*Tokyo is spelled that way in the poem.)
25-9-1938
Sri Aurobindo
Reference: # 93 in "Les poèmes de Sri
Aurobindo" (bilingual edition)
also in "More Poems" - 55
and "Collected Poems" - 120
all published by Sri
Aurobindo Ashram - Pondicherry
diffusion by SABDA