This website is using cookies

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this website. 

Heath-Stubbs, John: Az eperfa (The Mulberry Tree in Hungarian)

Portre of Heath-Stubbs, John
Portre of N. Ullrich Katalin

Back to the translator

The Mulberry Tree (English)

`Good neighbour Michael Drayton, and you, Old Ben
Stepped up from London to our Warwickshire
The air is balmy, so we'll drink tonight
Under my mulberry tree, and hear the chimes.'

But English April's treacherous. Good ale and wine,
However generous they boast themselves,
Lower the temperature. The lurking microbe
Is everywhere, and waiting for its chance.

Death's always bitter – and pneumonia,
Though not the worst, isn't a cosy end.
But this, at least, was after a good party –
Drinking with friends. And who wouldn't like to have been
A caterpillar among those mulberry leaves,
To catch some of the talk that drifted upwards,
And pass it on when one had turned a moth?



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://www.poetryarchive.org

Az eperfa (Hungarian)

`Michael Drayton jószomszéd, és te, vén Ben
egészen Londontól Warwickshirünkig
bársonyos az este, igyunk hát egy jót
eperfám alatt, s halljunk harangszót.'

De csalóka az angol tavasz. A jó sör és bor,
bármily kérkedőn dicsőíti is magát,  
alacsony hőmérsékletű. Az ólálkodó
mikrobák csak alkalomra lesnek.

A halál mindig keserű – a tüdőgyulladás
bár nem a legrosszabb, nem finom vég.
De legalább egy jó mulatság után jön –
barátokkal jót ittunk. És ki ne vágyna arra,
hogy hernyó legyen azokon az eperleveleken
hogy elkapjon valamit a felszálló beszédből
és átadja mikor egyikükből éjjeli lepke leszen.



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationsaját

minimap