The caterpillar

Caterpillar on the wall,
Whither, whither do you crawl?
You know not, yourself, methinks,
Strange and wandering little sphinx!

I will tell you where to go,
Underneath the winter snow
In an old tree's secret hole
You shall hide your little soul.

There, with summer, you shall sleep,
Thence, with summer you shall leap,
Wave your fairy wings on high,
Sip the flowers and kiss the sky.

Emblem worm of many a thing,
So the poet's mind can spring
Through the hush of brooding hours,
Kiss the sky and sip the flowers.

Translation(s): FRE

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Submitted by Jean-Pierre Granger

Authorship

• by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer (1852 - 1923), "The caterpillar", appears in Musa Verticordia, first published 1904 [ author's text checked 1 time]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909), "The caterpillar" [voice and piano], from Two songs, no. 1. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger) , title 1: "La chenille", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website: 2009-11-19.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:03:27
Line count: 16
Word count: 92

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