The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 4/Writings: Poems/Angels Unawares I-III

One bending low with load of life— That meant no joy, but suffering harsh and hard— And wending on his way through dark and dismal paths Without a flash of light from brain or heart To give a moment's cheer, till the line That marks out pain from pleasure, death from life, And good from what is evil was well-nigh wiped from sight, Saw, one blessed night, a faint but beautiful ray of light Descend to him. He knew not what or wherefrom, But called it God and worshipped. Hope, an utter stranger, came to him and spread Through all his parts, and life to him meant more Than he could ever dream and covered all he knew, Nay, peeped beyond his world. The Sages Winked, and smiled, and called it "superstition". But he did feel its power and peace And gently answered back—
 * "O Blessed Superstition!"

One drunk with wine of wealth and power And health to enjoy them both, whirled on His maddening course, till the earth, he thought, Was made for him, his pleasure-garden, and man, The crawling worm, was made to find him sport, Till the thousand lights of joy, with pleasure fed, That flickered day and night before his eyes, With constant change of colours, began to blur His sight, and cloy his senses ; till selfishness, Like a horny growth, had spread all o'er his heart ; And pleasure meant to him no more than pain, Bereft of feeling; and life in the sense, So joyful, precious once, a rotting corpse between his arms, Which he forsooth would shun, but more he tried, the more It clung to him; and wished, with frenzied brain, A thousand forms of death, but quailed before the charm, Then sorrow came—and Wealth and Power went— And made him kinship find with all the human race In groans and tears, and though his friends would laugh, His lips would speak in grateful accents—
 * "O Blessed Misery! "

One born with healthy frame — but not of will That can resist emotions deep and strong, Nor impulse throw, surcharged with potent strength — And just the sort that pass as good and kind, Beheld that he was safe, whilst others long And vain did struggle 'gainst the surging waves. Till, morbid grown, his mind could see, like flies That seek the putrid part, but what was bad. Then Fortune smiled on him, and his foot slipped. That ope'd his eyes for e'er, and made him find That stones and trees ne'er break the law, But stones and trees remain ; that man alone Is blest with power to fight and conquer Fate, Transcending bounds and laws. From him his passive nature fell, and life appeared As broad and new, and broader, newer grew, Till light ahead began to break, and glimpse of That Where Peace Eternal dwells—yet one can only reach By wading through the sea of struggles—courage-giving, came. Then looking back on all that made him kin To stocks and stones, and on to what the world Had shunned him for, his fall, he blessed the fall, And with a joyful heart, declared it —
 * "Blessed Sin!"


 * Notes