Orchard
For this hell,
For this toll,
Gimme an orchard
When I’m old.
When I’m old,
Aged with grief,
When I’m tired
Of hunchbacked years…
When I’m old,
Gimme a treasure,
For the scorched years -
a cool pleasure…
To a fugitive,
Give an orchard,
To a faceless one,
Give a fortune.
With no overseers,
With no ears,
With no visitors,
And no sneers.
Can the orchard be
A trade-off for pain?
Just a lonesome place,
For a lonesome fate.
Just an orchard place
For my ending rest,
Or perhaps the space
For my future fest.
1 September 1934
(Trans. by VP, 11 Oct 2009)