I am the shining white-winged angel of fire.

On the far-seeing flank of an inaccessible summit,
A long way from the busy and glamorous cities,
I have built my retreat and observation post among the trees.
From a great height, I watch over the pilgrim souls
Going their way on the eternal road in an unending flow.

The distance between hope and the goal,
Sundown and the morning star is often too long to bear
Even for the seasoned travelers, explorers of the hidden Light.
I rekindle their faltering hope and strengthen their faith.
This unhappy world in love with war and disaster,
Violence and power, if denied its daily portion
Of burning wine of hate and poison, murderous excitement,
Fatal drugs and pills and one-eyed suicidal freedom,
Will fall back into apathy, exhausted slide into extinction.

I drive gently men and women, slaves of desire, animals by nature,
Towards a high and noble passion, I light a spark in their soul.
This violent, unsatisfied brute is yet a crude image
Of a Supreme Divinity, habitation of the delightful Shakti.

As the lotus blooms in the pale rays of a silver moon,
So too, the soul in man still an animal grows every hour
Illumined, purified, sublimated by my Radiance.
In the secret heart of things, I have built my garden of roses

I am the pathfinder, guide on the road to Immortality.

Tears, I transform into glistening pearls of the rosary,
Utter disaster, ruin, shame and agony into Bliss and Harmony.

Friend of the aspiring soul, I lend him my wings to fly to the goal
If he stays too long in an oasis, I dry up the fountain and the green leaves.
I leave him no rest; prod him, often with strokes of lightning.
I ignite in his heart a divine frenzy, he cannot sleep anymore.

When I am invoked, centuries are compressed into a dazzling lifetime.
I am friend of the gambler, the reckless adventurer and the hunter
Who would throw away all prudence and gingerly step into Fire.

O hero worshipper of the Great Mother,
Do not relax until you win.

Jump in the furnace of love in fusion

Till all is reduced to gold.

             *********

N.Guha Roy 1993