Oh My Dear Maple, Frozen Stiff And Bare...

Oh my dear maple, frozen stiff and bare,

Why do you stand bending in the blizzard there?

Have you seen a vision? Have you heard a babble?

Just like you are out for an idle ramble.

Like a tipsy warden,  walking  on the roadside,

You have stuck in snowdrift, hit by burning frost-bite.

I myself quite often lose my whereabouts,

Cannot find my house after drinking bouts.

Now I  see a willow, now some other trees, and

Sing them songs about summer in a blizzard.

I would think myself  to be a sort of maple,

Not a bare maple - verdant as in April.

And forgetting virtue, drunk as  drowned mouse,

I would hug a birch-tree like somebody"s spouse.

1925

Over There Beyond Fields of Yellow...

Over there beyond fields of yellow

There are villages stretching ahead.

There"s a  wood and the  sunset of mellow

And a fence with a nettle thread.

There over  the domes of the temple

Is the  turquoise  dust of the sky,

And the wind rings the grass, wet and gentle,

As it comes from the lakes nearby.

It is not for the song of the valley

That I love this greenery spill,

Like a crane I"m in love with the alley

And the convent on top of the hill.

When the azure gets misty and blooming,

And the  sunset hangs over the bridge

I can see you, my wandering woman,

Go to bow to the cross and beseech.

Chaste is life in the convent village,

Public prayer absorbs you all,

Pray before our Saviour"s image,

Preach to God for my fallen soul.

1916

You Do Not Love Me...

You don"t love me and don"t  feel compassion

Don"t you think that now I look my best?

Though you look aside you"re thrilled with passion

As you put your arms upon my chest.

You are young , so sensitive and zealous,

I am neither bad nor very good to you.

Tell me, did you pet a lot of fellows?

You remember many arms and lips? You do?

They are gone and haven"t touched you any,

Gone like shadows, leaving you aflame.

You have sat upon the laps of many,

You are sitting now on mine, without shame.

Though your eyes are closed, and you are rather

Thinking of some one you really  trust,

After all, I do not love you either,

I am lost in thought about my dear past.

Don"t you call this zeal predestination,

Hasty tie is  thoughtless and no good,

Like I set up this unplanned connection,

I will smile when leaving you for good.

You will go the pathway of your own

Just to have  your days unwisely spent,

Don"t  approach the ones not fully grown,

Don"t entice the ones that never burnt.

When you walk with someone down the alley

Chatting merrily about love and all

Maybe, I"ll be out, walking round shyly,

And again, by chance,   I"ll meet you, poor soul.

Squaring shoulders, ravishing and winning,

Bending slightly  forward, with an air kiss,

You will utter quietly:  Good evening!

And I will reply: Good evening, miss.

Nothing will disturb my heart and spirit,

Nothing will  perturb me giving pain,-

He who"s been in love will not retrieve it,

He who"s burnt will not be lit again.

December 4th, 1925