Invitation

-- Sri Aurobindo

With wind and the weather beating round me
Up to the hill and the moorland I go.
Who will come with me? Who will climb with me?
Wade through the brook and tramp through the snow?

Not in the petty circle of cities
Cramped by your doors and your walls I dwell;
Over me God is blue in the welkin,
Against me the wind and the storm rebel.

I sport with solitude here in my regions,
Of misadventure have made me a friend.
Who would live largely? Who would live freely?
Here to the wind-swept uplands ascend.

I am the Lord of tempest and mountain,
I am the Spirit of freedom and pride.
Stark must he be and a kinsman to danger
Who shares my kingdom and walks at my side.


Nationalist, scholar, poet, yogi, newspaper editor, evolutionary philosopher. Aurobindo wrote this poem in 1908, when he was languishing as an undertrial prisoner in Kolkata's Alipur Jail. It was during this time he found his true calling.

You can read more about him here.