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As if in extension to this poem is a moving and concrete four line poem by Emily Dickinson in which she recognises God, the Beloved, as the only goal:


Distance-is not the Realm of Fox
Nor by Relay of Bird
Abated-Distance is
Until thyself, Beloved.[10]


in this poem, Emily Dickinson's actualisation of distance through the metaphors of fox and bird adds the full-bodied resonance of song to her central proposition.

Using different methods to the same end in "Where is the Truth?", Sri Chinmoy is also able to expand the range of aphorism. In his poem, with its elegant balance of question and answer, the human and the Divine, the ordinary and the mysterious, aphorism's lapidary form has blent with song. There is a melting into one of the two antiphonal voices. The poet has transformed the abrupt and closed rhythms of his initial aphoristic thought into ones that are more ample and symmetrically cadenced. The result is a fluid and meaningful dialogue which, while it does not engage in the human situation directly, powerfully suggests that context.

In certain poems, Sri Chinmoy goes even further in combining aphorism with other modes. At one extreme, he develops the wisdom aspect of aphorism so that the poet speaks in his vatic role-as a seer or visionary. At the other extreme, he discovers a kernel of wisdom in the heart of personal, lyrical experience. One instance of the former is "A Symbol of Promise":


View: A SYMBOL OF PROMISE

 

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