The title of the organ piece Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler is from the collection Le Livre des questions (1963) by the Jewish writer and poet Edmond Jabès, describing the volatility of life with its ups and downs. Although Pärt has composed instrumental pieces where the text has been written into the music word-by-word, here he has included Jabés’ poem as a motto.

Mein Weg hatte große Stunden,
Stöße und Schmerzen.
Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler,
Sand und den Himmel.
Der meine oder der deine.

My road had its hours of greatness,
its blows, its pain.
My road has its crest and its groundswell,
its sand and its sky.
My road. Yours.