Arany János - Győrei Zsolt (szerk.): The trill of the nightingale (Budapest, 2019)
V - „'Tis enough if it shines for me” - Corn Husking (Thomas Cooper)
She joined the hands at work one day, And rested with them in the hay. But when the others fell asleep She rose and stole through stalk and weed- A wild boar roams the forest edge! - Don’t lose your senses, maids, take heed! The brambles tear her cambric gown And prick her legs, blood trickles down. Where is she off too, like a ghost, While the rest sleep on the mead?- So many shooting stars tonight! - Young lasses, keep your wits, take heed! Frank wearied of the meadow soon, Moved on, no longer piped his tune. Fair Ester, no more at his side, Grown pale, sings sorrowful refrains.- The dew is falling, heavy, wet - The good Lord understands her strains. She stumbles sad through field and fold, Drops anything she tries to hold. Her nights are long, her days are bleak, A single yearning guides her pace:- Keep up the work, keep fingers quick! - To rest in tender death’s embrace. Gray autumn’s mists enshroud the plain, The lasses, lads shuck corn again. But where fair Ester, Ester Trell? She rests this side of graveyard gate.- I hear the ox’s clanging bell! - Harsh tongues, don’t trade tales of her fate!
