Elevation

Over the marshes, over the valleys,
The mountains, the woods, the clouds and the seas
Out through the sun, out through the skies
Beyond the bounds of the starry spheres

My spirit, you move with agility
And like a good swimmer in raptures in the waves
You cheerfully plough through immensity
With an inexpressible and virile joy

Fly well far from these filthy reeks
Purify yourself in the celestial air
And drink, like a pure and divine spirit
The clear fire which fills all luminous space

Behind the troubles, and the vast griefs,
Which charge with their weight our lives in the fog
Happy is he who with vigorous wing can
Soar to the fields luminous and serene

He whose thoughts, like the larks
In the morning take flight and
Who glides on his life, and knows without strain
the language of flowers and silent things