My two feet are set on the globe of the Earth.
My two hands extend to the orb of the Sun.

So between the globe of the Earth
and the orb of the Sun
I
stand...

Round is my head - like the globe of the Earth -
at whose core - like the layers of coal and ore -
lies my brain that's of no lesser worth.
I mine it
and mould
out of steel
all kinds of gigantic devices:
trains
linking distant countries
together,
ships ploughing oceans in any weather,
planes
surpassing the bird in flight,
rockets
almost as swift as light
and as quick
as the flight of my thought...

Round is my head - like the orb of the Sun -
from whose core in all four directions
wonderful rays are streaming:
they are nourishing life on the Earth,
encouraging there perpetual birth...

What is the Earth?
What is it worth without me?

...Once a lifeless, gigantic and pitiful ball
was roaming the boundless expanses of space...
The Moon like a mirror at night from afar
reflected its ugly and pock-marked face...
In misery then it created me
and moulded my head like the Sun and the Earth...
The small ball - that's my head - soon matured,
it surpassed the big globe of the Earth
and now serves as its permanent axis...
When it came to obey my own hands
I revealed its amazing beauty...
It's the Earth that created me then
yet it's I
who reshaped it and made it
newer, younger and more magnificent
than ever before...

With my feet firmly set on the Earth
and my arms still outstretched to the Sun,
I stand
as a bridge
linking Earth
and the Sun,
by which
Earthward
the Sun descends,
by which
Sunward
the Earth ascends...

All the splendid creations
I've moulded from mother Earth
with my own cunning hands
never cease
whirling round and round me
like a colourful merry-go-round...

...I watch them whirling around me:
cities with bridges and squares,
houses with lifts and stairs,
cars like insects on wheels,
structures of concrete and steel.
I see circling my head fast planes,
rounding my feet long trains,
liners ploughing acres
of sea and ocean,
tractors and lathes
roaring in motion,
I see leaving my hands
like pigeons in flight
many a spaceship and satellite...

Handsome, strong, tall and broad-shouldered -
like a bridge linking Earth
and the Sun -
I stand
at the very centre
of the planet
beaming smiles of bright sunshine
in all four directions.
This is me -
man.

Translated by Lionginas Pažūsis