The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #44215   Message #649494
Posted By: Haruo
13-Feb-02 - 07:12 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Service Tree Song
Subject: Service Tree Song
I just posted a song, Maldika Sorpo, in La Lilandejo, for which I am interested in knowing the English words, if any, and the original words, language, provenance... It is about a "bitter service" tree that falls in love with an oak. (I'm assuming "bitter service" here refers to the species, i.e. a service tree with bitter fruit, not the sweet kind, though the tree may also be bitter at finding herself rooted to the ground when she wants to be with the oak tree...

The title means "Slender Service". The stanzas mean:

Why, bitter service, do you tremble by the road?
Why, dear, do you bend your branches low in unhappiness.

And in a wheat field by a neighboring river,
Stands a strong oak, likewise single.

"Oh, if I succeeded in going over to the oak,
I would never again tremble and yearn.

"With my branches I would embrace him impetuously,
I would whisper discreetly with his leaves.

But a service tree cannot nest with the oak;
It must remain eternally alone, an orphan."

Liland