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The "lyric-I" draws us to it by virtue of its inner depth and range. As readers, we touch upon it in a moment of isolation and yet traditionally our presence is never acknowledged by direct address. Instead, it adopts a reflective pose of self-communion which we "overhear" by tacit agreement. The oracular lyric voice is meditative, issuing from a static configuration of time and circumstance. These accepted characteristics are significantly affected by those lyrics in which the poet addresses a friend, or apostrophises something in nature, or, more importantly for this study, where he appeals to God. In these poems the dramatisation of an emotion is framed by an act of communication, and so there is an inner movement of the poem towards something, or away from something towards, for example, a higher beauty and away from present imperfection. The very action of these "I-Thou" lyrics releases tremendous possibilities in terms of poetic stance and tone. In the case of the spiritual poet, the "action" of lyrics which mediate between the seeker and God is predicated on the alternating experiences of God's absence and God's presence. The absence of God provokes prayer-cries. The closeness of God inspires prayer-songs. God without is sought for, God within is celebrated; God lost is grieved for, God found is rejoiced over. The "lyric-I" faces the God-consciousness and his poem is the measure of the distance between them.

        Dark Lyrics

Whither, 0, whither art thou fled,
My Lord, My Love?

My searches are my daily bread;
 Yet never prove.

                    George Herbert

Turning to the poems of Sri Chinmoy, we find that the pain of separation from God manifests itself in what we might call "dark lyrics." The failure to see God and its attendant feelings of grief and despair fall into several different orders. As in Christian mystical theology, Sri Chinmoy finds that darkness, with its dominant metaphors of night and desert, can indicate both spiritual barrenness or that condition of emptiness wherein the soul most nearly approaches God. The former state discloses the sorrow of the unfulfilled and restless soul before the dawn of conscious spiritual aspiration; the latter reflects the intense pain arising from the burning aspiration to see God face to face and commune with Him freely. In these lyrics the very expression of suffering or inner torment can open the way to an infusion of hope and faith and thus transform the lyric into a song of praise or ecstasy.