The first poem appearing in the great yogi/poet’s book of spiritual poems, Songs of the Soul, is an American (innovative) sonnet, featuring two sestets and a couplet with the rime scheme AABBCC DDEFGG HH. The first sestet is composed of three rimed couplets; the second sestet feature two rimed couplets and one unrimed couplet that occupies the middle of the sestet.
This innovative form is perfectly fitted to the subject matter of an Indian yogi who has come to America to minister to the waiting souls who are yearning for the benefits of the ancient yogic techniques in which the great Guru will instruct them. Many of the ancient Hindu concepts will assist Westerners in understanding their own spiritual traditions, including the dominant Christianity of which many are already devotees.
In the opening poem, titled “Consecration,” the speaker humbly offers his works to his Creator. He offers the love from his soul to one who gives him is life and his creative ability, as he dedicates his poems to the Divine.
First Sestet: “At Thy feet I come to shower”
The speaker proclaims that he has come to “shower / All my full heart’s rhyming flower” at the feet of his Beloved Creator. He then avers that the poems as well as the poet himself are “Of Thy breath born” and furthermore, they are “By Thy love grown.”
It is the poet/speaker who suffered loneliness in his life before the found his Divine Friend, but because he steadfastly sought unity with the Beloved, he found Him, but the success he now also lays at the feet of the Divine, who have him the ability to feel, work, and create. The hands that the Great One gave to the devotee are the hands that were used to create.
Second Sestet: “For Thee, the sheaves”
In the second sestet, the speaker asserts that he has composed these poems for the Beloved Creator. The “sheaves / Within these leaves” contain the essence of the poet’s life and accomplishments made possible by the Supreme Spirit.
From his life, the writer has chosen “the choicest flowers / Of my life’s season.” The petals of his soul-flowers he has spread wide to allow “their humble perfume” to waft generously.
Couplet: “Hands folded, I come now to give”
The speaker then with prayer-folded hands addresses the Divine directly averring that he has “come now to give / What’s Thine.” He knows that as a writer he is only the instrument that the Great Poet has used to create these poems. As the humble writer, he takes no credit for his works but gives it all to the Prime Creator.
The humble poet/speaker then gives a stern command to his Beloved, “Receive!” As a spark of the Divine himself, he discerns that he has the familial right to command his Great Father Poet to accept the gift that the devotee has created through the assistance of the Divine Poet.
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