from The Twelve Months
August
(From the German)
Gerda Arendt, Apple tree in field, Ehrenbach
A weary guest, I tarried;
A golden pippin was his sign,
Upon a green branch carried!
Mine host — he was an apple-tree
With whom I took my leisure;
Fair fruit, and mellowed juicily,
He gave me from his treasure.
There came to that same hostel gay
Bright guests, in brave adorning;
A merry feast they made all day,
And sang, and slept till morning.
I, too, to rest my body laid
On bed of crimson clover;
The landlord with his own broad shade
Carefully spread me over.
(From the German)
Gerda Arendt, Apple tree in field, Ehrenbach
(detail). Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Once, with a landlord wondrous fine, A weary guest, I tarried;
A golden pippin was his sign,
Upon a green branch carried!
Mine host — he was an apple-tree
With whom I took my leisure;
Fair fruit, and mellowed juicily,
He gave me from his treasure.
There came to that same hostel gay
Bright guests, in brave adorning;
A merry feast they made all day,
And sang, and slept till morning.
I, too, to rest my body laid
On bed of crimson clover;
The landlord with his own broad shade
Carefully spread me over.
I rose; — I called to pay the score,
But "No!" he grandly boweth;
Now, root and fruit, for evermore
God bless him, while he groweth!
But "No!" he grandly boweth;
Now, root and fruit, for evermore
God bless him, while he groweth!
~~
Edwin Arnold (1832-1904)
from Poems: National and non-oriental, 1906
[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]
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