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| Burma |
For centuries, stairs have symbolized journeys, rites of passage,
transitions, and stages of life in art, literature, and music.
transitions, and stages of life in art, literature, and music.
Tibet
My Soul. I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
- William Butler Yeats
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
- William Butler Yeats
Italy
Stairs are climbed step by step.
- Turkish Proverb
- Turkish Proverb
Kashmir
Children’s stories tell tales of boys and girls discovering treasures upstairs in the
attic and fearing what is downstairs in the basement.
attic and fearing what is downstairs in the basement.
Afghanistan
Faith is taking the first step even when
you don’t see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
you don’t see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Burma
Morocco
India
Man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe,
grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts,
emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
- John Steinbeck
grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts,
emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
- John Steinbeck
Italy
Jodhpur, India
My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be
through Earth’s loveliness.
- Michelangelo
through Earth’s loveliness.
- Michelangelo
Italy
Mt. Popa, BurmaThe stairway climbs a 300-foot lava plug crowned by Buddhist temples.
Serbia
Mother to Son
Well, Son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor –
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now –
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
- Langston Hughes
Well, Son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor –
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now –
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
- Langston Hughes
New York, September 12, 2001 
Japan 
New Yorkis a stair
where i sit.
there isn’t any
other stair
quite like
it.
i’m not at the bottom,
i’m not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn’t up
And it isn’t down.
It isn’t in the nursery,
It isn’t in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn’t really
Anywhere!
It’s somewhere else
Instead!
- A.A. Milne
Isn’t up
And it isn’t down.
It isn’t in the nursery,
It isn’t in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn’t really
Anywhere!
It’s somewhere else
Instead!
- A.A. Milne
Italy
Haiku
Steep steps
Uneven treads
Life
- bmv
Steep steps
Uneven treads
Life
- bmv
India 
Iraq 
India 
Afghanistan