Swallow's Tale

On the quiet sultry pool

Danced the delicate water strider,

Below on a crystal stool

Was throned the Toad Queen.

Of the noblest medals

Was the circlet around her head,

And like siver bells sounded

The frog chorus through the waters.

Then came Spring; the clods

Were breaking up; blossoms quiver;

Muffled Spring thunder rolls

Through the air, black with storms.

Waterlily blooms float

On the pond's dark mirror,

And the first swallows shoot

Overhead on swift wings.

From tender beaklets softly

Tone chirpings over the waves:

Many greetings from our journey

Have we been asked to give you.

Long were we in foreign

Sand-covered hot lands,

Where clothed in loose caftan robes

Turban wearers stroll.

Purple-hued wonder-plants

Fed us mile after mile;

We saw yellow moors dancing

Naked in front of reed huts.

Thirsty on the hot saddles

Sat Arabians, to whom lightly,

While reaching up to them ahorse,

Their wives handed goat milk and dates.

On the antelope hunt

Warrior-like, with spear and arrow,

Ran the slender Ethiopian;

In mourning sounded Memnon's column.

We have drunk from the Niles flood,

Dusty from the journey;

Greetings to thee, Toad Queen,

From the Venerable and Kingly.

Everything greets thee, flowers, leaves!

But the most greetings of all

We bring thee from thy cousin,

Yes from your beloved cousin

From the Crocodile in the Nile."