Kali The Mother

    A poem by Swami Vivekanand written in Kashmir, on a houseboat on Dal Lake. After visiting the Kshir Bhavani Temple

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 trees by the roots, 
Sweeping all from the path. 
The sea has joined the fray, 
And swirled 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.