UP, AMARYLLIS!
SWEDISH.
Waken, thou fair one! up, Amaryllis!
Morning so still is;
Cool is the gale:
The rainbows of heaven,
With its hues seven,
Brightness hath given
To wood and dale.
Sweet Amaryllis, let me convey thee;
In Neptune’s arms naught shall affray thee;
Sleep’s god no longer power has to stay thee,
Over thy eyes and speech to prevail.
Come out a-fishing; nets forth are carrying;
Come without tarrying—
Hasten with me.
Jerkin and vail in—
Come for the sailing,
For trout and grayling:
Baits will lay we.
Awake, Amaryllis! dearest, awaken;
Let me not go forth by thee forsaken;
Our course among dolphins and sirens taken,
Onward shall paddle our boat to the sea.
Bring rod and line—bring nets for the landing;
Morn is expanding,
Hasten away!
Sweet! no denying,
Frowning, or sighing—
Could’st thou be trying
To answer me nay?
Hence, on the shallows, our little boat leaving,
Or to the Sound where green waves are heaving,
Where our true love its first bond was weaving,
Causing to Thirsis so much dismay.
Step in the boat, then! both of us singing,
Love afresh springing,
O’er us shall reign.
If the storm rages,
If it war wages,
Thy love assuages
Terror and pain.
Calm 'mid the billows’ wildest commotion,
I would defy on thy bosom the ocean,
Or would attend thee to death with devotion:
Sing, O ye sirens, and mimic my strain!
Translation of Mrs. Howitt. Carl Michael Bellmann, 1740–1795.