KALI THE
MOTHER
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
The stars are blotted out.
The clouds are covering clouds.
It is darkness vibrant, sonant.
In the roaring, whirling wind
Are the souls of a million lunatics
Just loosed from the prison-house
Wrenching tress by the roots,
Sweeping all from the path.
The sea has joined the fray,
And’ swirls up mountain-waves,
To reach the pitchy sky.
The flash of lurid light
Reveals on every side
A thousand, thousand shades
Of Death begrimed and black
Scattering plagues and sorrows,
Dancing mad with joy.
Come, Mother, come!
For terror is Thy Name,
Death is in Thy breath,
And every shaking step
Destroys a world for e’er.
Thou “Time.”, the All-Destroyer!
Come, O Mother, come!
Who dares misery love,
And hug the form of Death,
Dance in Destruction’s dance,
To him the Mother comes.