To the Ganges Hearken, Ganges, hearken, thou that sweepest golden to the sea, Hearken, Mother, to my voice. From the feet of Hari with thy waters pure thou leapest free, Waters colder-pure than ice. On Himaloy’s grandiose summits upright in his cirque of stones Shiva sits in breathless air, Where the outcast seeks his refuge, where the demon army moans, Ganges erring through his hair. Down the snowwhite mountains speeding, the immortal peaks and cold, Crowd thy waves untouched by man. From Gungotry through the valleys next their icy tops were rolled, Bursting through Shivadry ran. In Benares’ stainless city by defilement undefiled Ghauts and temples lightly touched With thy fingers as thou ranst, laughed low in pureness like a child To his mother’s bosom clutched. Where the steps of Rama wandered, where the feet of Krishna came, There thou flowest, there thy hand Clasps us, Bhagirathie, Jahnavie or Gunga, and thy name Holier makes the Aryans’ land. But thou leavest Aryavurtha, but thou leapest to the seas In thy hundred mighty streams; Nor in the unquiet Ocean vast thy grandiose journeyings cease, Mother, say thy children’s dreams. Down thou plungest through the Ocean, far beneath its oozy bed In Patala’s leaden gloom Moaning o’er her children’s pain our mother, Ganges of the dead, Leads our wandering spirits home. Mighty with the mighty still thou dwelledst, goddess high and pure; Iron Bhîshma was thy son, Who against ten thousand rushing chariots could in war endure; Many heroes fled from one. Devavrath the mighty, Bhîshma with his oath of iron power, Smilingly who gave up full Joy of human life and empire, that his father’s wish might flower And his father’s son might rule. Who were these that thronged thereafter? wherefore came these puny hearts Apter for the cringing slave, Wrangling, selfish, weak and treacherous, vendors of their nobler parts, Sorry food for pyre and grave? O but these are men of mind not yet with Europe’s brutal mood alloyed, Poets singing in their chains, Preachers teaching manly slavery, speakers thundering in the void. Motley wear these men of brains! Well it is for hound and watchdog fawning at a master’s feet, Cringing, of the whip afraid! Well it is for linnet caged to make with song his slavery sweet. Man for other ends was made. Man the arrogant, the splendid, man the mighty wise and strong, Born to rule the peopled earth, Shall he bear the alien’s insult, shall he brook the tyrant’s wrong Like a thing of meaner birth? Sreepoor in the east of Chand and Kédar, bright with Mogul blood, And the Kings of Aracan And the Atlantic pirates helped that hue,—its ruined glory flood Kîrtinasha’s waters wan. Buried are our cities; fallen the apexed dome, the Indian arch; In Chitore the jackals crowd: Krishna’s Dwarca sleeps for ever, o’er its ruined bastions march All the Oceans thundering loud. Still, yet still the fire of Kali on her ancient altar burns Smouldering under smoky pall, And the deep heart of her peoples to their Mighty Mother turns, Listening for her Titan call. Yet Pratapaditya’s great fierce spirit shall in might awake In Jessore he loved and made, Sitaram the good and mighty for his well-loved people’s sake Leave the stillness and the shade. And Bengal the wide and ancient where the Senas swayed of old Up to far Benares pure, She shall lead the Aryan peoples to the mighty doom foretold And her glory shall endure. By her heart of quick emotion, by her brain of living fire, By her vibrant speech and great, She shall lead them, they shall see their destiny in her warm desire Opening all the doors of Fate. By the shores of Brahmaputra or where Ganges nears the sea, Even now a flame is born ...........Read further online using link below. Read online: https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/2/to-the-ganges
