To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus
Lord Buddha, on thy Lotus-throne,With praying eyes and hands elate,What mystic rapture dost thou own,Immutable and ultimate?What peace, unravished of our ken,Annihilate from the world of men?
The wind of change for ever blowsAcross the tumult of our way,To-morrow's unborn griefs deposeThe sorrows of our yesterday.Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife,And Death unweaves the webs of Life.
For us the travail and the heat,The broken secrets of our pride,The strenuous lessons of defeat,The flower deferred, the fruit denied;But not the peace, supremely won,Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne.
With futile hands we seek to gainOur inaccessible desire,Diviner summits to attain,With faith that sinks and feet that tire;But nought shall conquer or controlThe heavenward hunger of our soul.
The end, elusive and afar,Still lures us with its beckoning flight,And all our mortal moments areA session of the Infinite.How shall we reach the great, unknownNirvana of thy Lotus-throne?
Words in this poem
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- immutable a.
- Not mutable; not capable or susceptible of change; unchangeable; unalterable. [L. immutabilis; pref. im- not + mutabilis mutable. See Mutable.]
- annihilate v. t.
- To reduce to nothing or nonexistence; to destroy the existence of; to cause to cease to be. [L. annihilare; ad + nihilum, nihil, nothing, ne hilum (filum) not a thread, nothing at all. Cf. File, a row.]
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- strenuous a.
- Eagerly pressing or urgent; zealous; ardent; earnest; bold; valiant; intrepid; as, a strenuous advocate for national rights; a strenuous reformer; a strenuous defender of his country.
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- supremely adv.
- In a supreme manner.
- futile a.
- Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See Fuse, v. t.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- elusive a.
- Tending to elude; using arts or deception to escape; adroitly escaping or evading; eluding the grasp; fallacious.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- session n.
- The act of sitting, or the state of being seated. [L. sessio, fr. sedere, sessum, to sit: cf. F. session. See Sit.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Golden Threshold, with an introduction by Arthur Symons (Hyderabad, 1905; London, John Lane, 1905), Project Gutenberg ebook #680; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sarojini Naidu, To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus, in The Golden Threshold (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #680, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-golden-threshold/to-a-buddha-seated-on-a-lotus.html, id L27514.
Form and metre
To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC throneA · elateB · ownA · ultimateB · kenC · menC
- 2 ABABCC blowsA · wayB · deposeA · yesterdayB · strifeC · lifeC
- 3 ABABCC heatA · prideB · defeatA · deniedB · wonC · throneC
- 4 ABABCC gainA · desireB · attainA · tireB · controlC · soulC
- 5 ABABCC afarA · flightB · areA · infiniteB · unknownC · throneC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lord Buddha, on thy Lotus-throne, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With praying eyes and hands elate, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| What mystic rapture dost thou own, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Immutable and ultimate? | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| What peace, unravished of our ken, | 8 | ······/· |
| Annihilate from the world of men? | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| The wind of change for ever blows | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Across the tumult of our way, | 8 | ˘/·/˘·/· |
| To-morrow's unborn griefs depose | 8 | ·/˘//·˘/ |
| The sorrows of our yesterday. | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And Death unweaves the webs of Life. | 8 | ········ |
| For us the travail and the heat, | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| The broken secrets of our pride, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/· |
| The strenuous lessons of defeat, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The flower deferred, the fruit denied; | 8 | ·/˘/··˘/ |
| But not the peace, supremely won, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With futile hands we seek to gain | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Our inaccessible desire, | 9 | /·˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Diviner summits to attain, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| With faith that sinks and feet that tire; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But nought shall conquer or control | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The heavenward hunger of our soul. | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·/· |
| The end, elusive and afar, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Still lures us with its beckoning flight, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And all our mortal moments are | 8 | ··//˘/˘· |
| A session of the Infinite. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| How shall we reach the great, unknown | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne? | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
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