Drei Zigeuner fand ich einmal
Liegen an einer Weide,
Als mein Fuhrwerk mit müder Qual
Schlich durch sandige Heide.
Hielt der eine für sich allein
In den Händen die Fiedel,
Spielte, umglüht vom Abendschein,
Sich ein feuriges Liedel.
Hielt der zweite die Pfeif' im Mund,
Blickte nach seinem Rauche,
Froh, als ob er vom Erdenrund
Nichts zum Glücke mehr brauche.
Und der dritte behaglich schlief,
Und sein Cimbal am Baum hing,
Über die Saiten der Windhauch lief,
Über sein Herz ein Traum ging.
An den Kleidern trugen die drei
Löcher und bunte Flicken,
Aber sie boten trotzig frei
Spott den Erdengeschicken,
Dreifach haben sie mir gezeigt,
Wenn das Leben uns nachtet,
Wie man's verraucht, verschläft, vergeigt,
Und es dreimal verachtet.
Nikolaus Lenau:
The Three Gypsies
Once I chanced upon gypsies three
resting in sunny weather,
as my jalopy carried me
wary through gravelly heather.
Just for himself one gypsy had
gotten hold of his fiddle,
played, surrounded by evening's red,
fiery songs for a diddle.
Had the other a pipe in his mouth,
looked at the spiraling matter -
happy, as if from the whole of this earth
nothing could suit him better.
And the third one in comfort slept,
his guitar in a tree bend;
over the strings the breezes crept,
over his heart a dream went.
On their clothing carried the three
holes with patches around them,
but they defied intrepidly
what in their destiny bound them.
Threefold the gypsies revealed that day,
how, when one's life is benighted,
to sing it, to smoke it, to dream it away -
and thrice to detest and deride it.
A nice ballad, you say, but very un-American? Well, I suppose so. Un-European, too. Nowadays, at least.
But don't worry. Lenau has already very few readers. Still, there must exist some stalwart admirers: Would you otherwise find his poems on this site?
And, no, the gypsies haven't fared well with globalization, either. They were, in fact, global all along. That was their problem. Just like their glorious music.
Or, for that matter, Lenau's poetry: The beauty of the human soul that conventions cannot contain.