Arany János - Győrei Zsolt (szerk.): The trill of the nightingale (Budapest, 2019)
V - „'Tis enough if it shines for me” - No Nature (Thomas Cooper)
No Nature Good gardener, what a lovely rain We’ve had today, the stately trees More proudly hold their leafy crowns To shimmer in the passing breeze. The air, now fresh and cool, descends, The firmament shines clear and blue, The roadside dust, still drunk, will rest At least another day or two. “The rain? A peasant smiles at rain, And waters not his seeds, But waits for wheat to fall, instead His garden fills with weeds. I’ll trust instead my watering can, My tap and pipe and drain, The rain cares nothing for my trade, And I care not for rain. It dallied, rain, when needed, then It changed the fields to mud! No spicket I could turn, no tap to stop the roaring flood. It washed away my tender grass, Changed pasture into fen, My flowers bent, a full week’s work To tie them up again. Or if rain comes with ice and wind, Much as it has for years, And splinters trees I’ll utter words Not fit for ladies’ ears. The rain, I say, has lost its charm. Like cooking meals outside. The ass who tends an open fire, May find he burns his hide.” And lo, the arts! What heights they’d reach In but a couple hundred years, But nature wild bursts in and drowns Their counterpoint in raucous jeers. 88 89
