Poetry Blog No 114 Black-shadowing Chestnut Tree (Meyer)

BLACK-SHADOWING CHESTNUT TREE

This is my English version of a German poem by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. I aim when rendering a poem into English to create something which reads as a poem and thus captures some of the flow and feeling of the original. To what degree I succeed in this is up to others to decide but I hope readers can enjoy this as an English poem, especially if they read it "aloud" (at least in the mind).

From Wikipedia - Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (11 October 1825 – 28 November 1898) was a Swiss poet and historical novelist, a master of realism chiefly remembered for stirring narrative ballads...

Meyer's lyric verse is almost entirely the product of his later years. He frequently celebrated human handiwork, especially works of art. Rome and the monumental work of Michelangelo were among decisive experiences in his life.

He also battled life-long depression but this poem appears to be in some ways life-affirming with the tree seeming not only particular but a symbol of enduring existence (rather like the world tree of Norse legend or the tree of life in Jewish mysticism. 

Chestnut Tree Blooming by Renoir

BLACK-SHADOWING CHESTNUT TREE

after the German of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer

Black-shadowing chestnut tree,

My wind-aroused, cool summer tent,

You bend down your wide branches to

The flow, your thirsting leaf-bunch drinks,

Black-shadowing chestnut tree!

And in the harbour young broods bathe

With shouts of quarrelling or joy

And children swim by gleaming white

Within your leaf-framed trellis work,

Black-shadowing chestnut tree!

When dusk-time darkens lake and shore

The evening steamer rustles by,

Then from the red ship lantern shoots

A flash that wanders on the swell,

The flow, like shattered lettering,

Till under your leaf-cluster fades

The riddle-tracing, flame-like script,

Black-shadowing chestnut tree!