My Brother died;

We were as two stars in a naked sky.

He was like me,

Burnt by the warm sun,

In the land where are soft breezes,

Swaying palms,

And cool rivers,

Where there are shadows numberless,

Bright-coloured parrots and chattering birds:

Where green tree-tops

Dance in the brilliant sun;

Where there are golden sands

And blue-green seas:

Where the world lives in the burden of the sun,

And the earth is baked dull brown;

Where the green-sparkling rice fields

Are luscious in slimy waters,

And shining, brown, naked bodies

Are free in the dazzling light:

The land

Of the mother suckling her babe by the roadside

Of the devout lover

Offering gay flowers;

Of the wayside shrine;

Of intense silence;

Of immense peace.

He died;

I wept in loneliness.

Where'er I went, I heard his voice

And his happy laughter.

I looked for his face

In every passer-by,

And asked each if he had met with my brother;

But none could give me comfort.

I worshipped.

I prayed.

But the gods were silent.

I could weep no more;

I could dream no more,

I sought him in all things,

In every clime.

I heard the whispering of many trees.

Calling me to his abode.

And then,

In my search,

I beheld Thee,

O Lord of my heart;

In Thee alone

I saw the face of my brother.

In Thee alone,

O my eternal Love,

Do I behold the faces

Of all the living and all the dead.1