Arany János - Győrei Zsolt (szerk.): The trill of the nightingale (Budapest, 2019)

I - „And when he bores he starts anew” - The Captive Stork (Thomas Cooper)

The Captive Stork

Beside a lonely windswept plot A lonely stork keeps lonely watch.

He’d fain begin his wanderings,

Glide gracefully Across the sea,

Alas, someone has clipped his wings.

Perched on one leg, he mourns his plight, Shifts right to left, then left to right,

Then back again, naught else to do, No other play To pass the day,

And when he bores he starts anew.

Beneath his wing he tucks his head,

He'd cast his gaze afar, instead

His stare falls on an iron gate And walls of brick,

Both high and thick

That circumscribe his meek estate.

He’d lift his head towards the sky But knows too well what he’d espy,

Storks flying free through open blue, To fairer lands,

And warmer sands,

And he, the captive, left below.

He waits and longs, in vain, vain,

For wounded wing to grow again,

That he might once again ascend, Ascend and fly Across the sky,

The vast expanse from end to end.