Much Have I Travelled
Poem
Stray Birds
1
Stray birds of summer come to my window to sing and fly away.
And yellow leaves of autumn, which have no songs, flutter and fall there with a
sigh.
2
O Troupe of little vagrants of the world, leave your footprints in my words.
3
The world puts off its mask of vastness to its lover.
It becomes small as one song, as one kiss of the eternal.
4
It is the tears of the earth that keep her smiles in bloom.
5
The mighty desert is burning for the love of a blade of grass who shakes her head
and laughs and flies away.
6
If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.
Rabindranath Tagore
Listen
Read by Maite Jáuregui
Music
Rêverie, L.68, Debussy
Pascal Rogé
Image
Ornamental Design with Two Birds Pecking at Fruit, Masek
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington