Today we take up the following poem of Sri Aurobindo, written in Baroda around 1900:
A THING SEEN
She in her garden, near the high grey wall,
Sleeping; a silver-bodied birch-tree tall
That held its garments o’er her wide and green,
Building a parapet of shade between,
Forbade the amorous sun to look on her.
No fold of gracious raiment was astir.
The wind walked softly; silent moved a cloud
Listening; of all the tree no leaf was loud
But guarded a divine expectant hush
Thrilled by the silence of a hidden thrush.
[Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, p. 187]