Friday, September 12, 2014

"Gathers all things to his heart for ever."

"Silence is round me, wideness ineffable;
White birds on the ocean diving and wandering;"

                                   Ocean Oneness -Sri Aurobindo


Ocean Oneness

 Sri Aurobindo




Silence is round me, wideness ineffable;
White birds on the ocean diving and wandering;
A soundless sea on a voiceless heaven,
Azure on azure, is mutely gazing.


Identified with silence and boundlessness
My spirit widens clasping the universe
Till all that seemed becomes the Real,
One in a mighty and single vastness.


Someone broods there nameless and bodiless,
Conscious and lonely, deathless and infinite,
And, sole in a still eternal rapture,
Gathers all things to his heart for ever.






In loving memory of my Aunt Eloise who has passed. My heart and thoughts are with my Uncle Charles,  cousins Jim and Eric. As I recall she was raised near peaceful waters, delighting in the beauty of ocean waves and the calmness of sunlit beaches. She cherished her family, adored her dogs. For many of her former students, friends and colleagues she will be remembered as a lover of  language, a great and patient teacher of words. May we feel her spirit in our moments of silence and know her gentle presence when we speak of her memory.