The Dream Boat

Who was it that came to me in a boat made of dream-fire,

With his flame brow and his sun-gold body?

Melted was the silence into a sweet secret murmur,

“Do you come now? is the heart’s fire ready?”

 

Hidden in the recesses of the heart something shuddered,

It recalled all that the life’s joy cherished,

Imaged the felicity it must leave lost for ever,

And the boat passed and the gold god vanished.

 

Now within the hollowness of the world’s breast inhabits—

For the love died and the old joy ended—

Void of a felicity that has fled, gone for ever,

And the gold god and the dream boat come not.

1942 (exact date not available)

Painting by Huta. From her book Pictures of Sri Aurobindo's Poems, which has been recently published
by the Havyavahana Trust, ISBN: 978-81-87372-17-2 (see note below poem)

The painting is copyright of Huta Hindocha.

The Dream Boat is a poem in a new metre which the poet himself illustrates as follows:

Metrical scanning: (long — ; short u)

Lines 1, 3: dactyl-second paeon-ionic a minore-amphibrach (or antibacchius)

— u u | u — u u | u u — — | u — u | (or u — — |)

 

Lines 2, 4: two ionic a minore with a closing trochee

u u — — | u u — — | — u |

The poem has been superbly illustrated by Huta in her book Pictures of Sri Aurobindo's Poems, which has been recently published by the Havyavahana Trust, ISBN: 978-81-87372-17-2. The paintings in the book are accompanied with relevant quotations from the writings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The publisher’s note says the following: “In March 1967 Huta began the work of expressing some of Sri Aurobindo’s poems through paintings. Under the Mother’s inspiration and guidance she selected certain passages from the poems and completed fifty-four paintings, which were all shown to the Mother in September of that year. This new book presents these paintings along with the lines which inspired them from some of Sri Aurobindo’s most well-known poems, such as Invitation, Who, Thought the Paraclete, and A God’s Labour. Appropriate quotations from the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, some comments on the paintings by the Mother, and background information and photographs accompany the plates. The entire book is printed on art paper.”  - RY