YOU ASK ME, mother, where I most wish to go. It is there from where I first came to you. But I never can remember the place. My father smiles at my trouble and says. 'It is beyond the clouds in the land of the evening star.' But I hear from you, it is deep in the bosom of the earth, from where the flowers come away seeking the sun. 'That land lies unseen,' my auntie says, 'in the bottom of the sea, hiding all the precious gems in its store.' My brother pulls my hair and says, 'How can you find it, you stupid one, for it is mingled in the air.' It must be everywhere, it seems to me when I listen to you all. Only my school-master shakes his head and says'It is nowhere.'
GUESTS OF my life, You came in the early dawn, and you in the night, Your name was uttered by the Spring flowers and yours by the showers of rain. You brought the harp into my house and you brought the lamp. After you had taken your leave I found God's footprints on my floor. Now when I am at the end of my pilgrimage I leave in the evening flowers of worship my salutations to you all.
