The Broken Wing

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THE BROKEN WING

SAROJINI NAIDU

The Broken Wing

Songs of Love, Death & Destiny

1915–1916

By
Sarojini Naidu

New York: John Lane Company
London: William Heinemann
MCMXVII

Copyright, 1917,
By John Lane Company

Press of
J. J. Little & Ives Company
New York, U. S. A.

To the Dream of To-Day
and
The Hope of To-Morrow

Foreword

In the radiant and far-off yesterdays of our history, it was the sacred duty of Indian womanhood to kindle and sustain the hearth-fires, the beacon-fires and the altar-fires of the nation.

The Indian woman of to-day is once more awake and profoundly alive to her splendid destiny as the guardian and interpreter of the Triune Vision of national life—the Vision of Love, the Vision of Faith, the Vision of Patriotism.

Her renascent consciousness is everywhere striving for earnest expression in song or speech, service or self-sacrifice, that shall prove an offering not unworthy of the Great Mother in the eyes of the world that honour her.

Poignantly aware of the poverty of my gift, I still venture to make my offering with joined palms uplifted in a Salutation of Song.

SAROJINI NAIDU.

Hyderabad, Deccan, 1916

I offer all due acknowledgments to the editors of
the various European and Oriental journals in
which my poems have appeared.

Contents

The Broken Wing

Songs of Life and Death		PAGE
The Broken Wing		15
The Gift of India		17
The Temple		19
Lakshmi, the Lotus-born		21
The Victor		23
The Imam Bara		25
A Song from Shiraz		27
Imperial Delhi		29
Memorial Verses
I.	Ya Mahbub!	30
II.	Gokhale	32
III.	In Salutation to my Father's Spirit	33
The Flute-player of Brindaban		34
Farewell		36
The Challenge		38
Wandering Beggars		39
The Lotus		41
The Prayer of Islam		42
Bells		44
The Garden Vigil		46
Invincible		48
The Pearl		49
Three Sorrows		51
Kali the Mother		52
Awake!		55
The Flowering Year
The Call of Spring		59
The Coming of Spring		61
The Magic of Spring		63
Summer Woods		64
June Sunset		66
The Time of Roses		68
The Peacock-Lute: Songs for Music
Silver Tears		73
Caprice		74
Destiny		75
Ashoka Blossom		76
Atonement		77
Longing		78
Welcome		80
The Festival of Memory		81
The Temple: A Pilgrimage of Love
I. The Gate of Delight
1.	The Offering	85
2.	The Feast	86
3.	Ecstasy	87
4.	The Lute-Song	89
5.	If You Call Me	91
6.	The Sins of Love	92
7.	The Desire of Love	94
8.	The Vision of Love	95
II. The Path of Tears
1.	The Sorrow of Love	97
2.	The Silence of Love	98
3.	The Menace of Love	100
4.	Love's Guerdon	102
5.	If You Were Dead	103
6.	Supplication	105
7.	The Slayer	107
8.	The Secret	108
III. The Sanctuary		PAGE
1.	The Fear of Love	109
2.	The Illusion of Love	111
3.	The Worship of Love	112
4.	Love Triumphant	113
5.	Love Omnipotent	114
6.	Love Transcendent	116
7.	Invocation	118
8.	Devotion	120

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BY THE SAME AUTHOR

THE
GOLDEN THRESHOLD

INTRODUCTION BY
ARTHUR SYMONS

Portrait Frontispiece. Cloth. $1.00 net

"The poems are exquisitely musical and they are genuine expressions of the mysterious heart of Asia."

—Literary Digest.

THE
BIRD OF TIME

SONGS OF LIFE, DEATH AND THE SPRING

INTRODUCTION BY
EDMUND GOSSE

Portrait Frontispiece. Cloth. $1.00 net

"Her folk-songs are rarely beautiful and her serious poems reveal a burning fervency that is fixed upon the pursuit of the eternal."—Review of Reviews.

NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1949, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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