Above the mountains and above the clouds Above the valleys, woods and lakes and ocean Beyond the sun, beyond ethereal spaces And starry spheres, beyond their utmost bounds Swift spirit, now you make your supple way And, like a swimmer ravished by the waves You gaily cleave the great unfathomed deeps With an ineffable and viril joy Fly far from these miasmic sickly places Arise and cleanse yourself in higher air Drink, as of a draught divine and pure The lucent fire that floods the sky-clear spaces Beyond the dreary cares and vast distress That weigh upon our dim existence here Happy the man who with a vigorous wing Can soar towards the shining fields of peace Happy the man whose thoughts, like larks, take wing Freely towards the morning skies who glides Above this life and simply understands The speech of flowers and of silent things The speech of flowers and of silent things The speech of flowers and of silent things