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MORNING AND EVENING LOVE
In the morning
I love the heavenward wings
Of my prayer-bird.
In the evening
I love my meditation's
Life-perfecting
And earth-transforming
Silence.[9]
Set in apposition to the word "bird," the nouns "prayer" and "aspiration" are given a tangible form. To isolate aspiration proper from the welter of imaginings, concepts and emotions that constantly flood the inner life of a human being is a matter of careful discrimination. Indeed, for the seeker, the greater part of aspiration consists in recognising its presence and its absence. Therefore, if we think of it as a bird soaring ever upwards within us, free from the snare of worldly attachments, this image in itself can serve to increase the power of aspiration. Similarly, the phrase "prayer-bird" encourages us to visualise the act of prayer as something that ascends towards God, while meditation is something that invites God to descend. It is plain that the poet uses such connective phrases not to illustrate concepts, but to enact them in such a way that we are compelled to visualise them in our own mind. This very imaginary power which the poet evokes in his readers is the precursor of inspiration, aspiration and, ultimately, the realisation of the Self.
While the word "bird" is a broad generic noun which admits of countless different associations, there are a number of poems in which the poet does become more specific and links a certain type of bird with an appropriate feeling:
WHY DO I CRY?
Why do I cry?
Why do I sigh?
My Lord I love,
I am His dove.[10]
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