Divest thyself, O Soul, of vain desire! <br />Bid hope farewell, dismiss all coward fears; <br />Take leave of empty laughter, emptier tears, <br />And quench, for ever quench, the wasting fire <br />Wherein this heart, as in a funeral pyre, <br />Aye burns, yet is consumed not. Years on years <br />Moaning with memories in thy maddened ears-- <br />Let at thy word, like refluent waves, retire. <br /> <br />Enter thy soul's vast realm as Sovereign Lord, <br />And, like that angel with the flaming sword, <br />Wave off life's clinging hands. Then chains will fall <br />From the poor slave of self's hard tyranny-- <br />And Thou, a ripple rounded by the sea, <br />In rapture lost be lapped within the All.<br /><br />Mathilde Blind<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nirvana-3/
