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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN SALUTATION TO THE ETERNAL PEACE by SAROJINI NAIDU

First Line: MEN SAY THE WORLD IS FULL OF FEAR AND HATE
Last Line: O INTIMATE ESSENCE OF ETERNITY!
Subject(s): DEATH; FUTURE LIFE; PEACE; DEAD, THE; RETRIBUTION; ETERNITY; AFTER LIFE;

MEN say the world is full of fear and hate,
And all life's ripening harvest-fields await
The restless sickle of relentless fate.

But I, sweet Soul, rejoice that I was born,
When from the climbing terraces of corn
I watch the golden orioles of Thy morn.

What care I for the world's desire and pride,
Who know the silver wings that gleam and glide,
The homing pigeons of Thine eventide?

What care I for the world's loud weariness,
Who dream in twilight granaries Thou dost bless
With delicate sheaves of mellow silences?

Say, shall I heed dull presages of doom,
Or dread the rumoured loneliness and gloom,
The mute and mythic terror of the tomb?

For my glad heart is drunk and drenched with Thee,
O inmost wine of living ecstasy!
O intimate essence of eternity!



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