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by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Translation by Josef Václav Sládek (1845 - 1912)

Again rejoicing Nature sees
Language: Scottish (Scots) 
Our translations:  FRE
Again rejoicing Nature sees
Her robe assume its vernal hues, ;
Her leafy locks wave in the breeze,
All freshly steep'd in morning dews.
[Refrain : And maun I still on Menie doat,
  And bear the scorn that 's in her e'e ?
  For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,
  An' it winna let a body be!]1

In vain to me the cowslips blaw,
In vain to me the vi'lets spring ;
In vain to me in glen or shaw,
The mavis and the lintwhite sing.
[Refrain : And maun I still on Menie doat,
  And bear the scorn that 's in her e'e ?
  For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,
  An' it winna let a body be!]1

The merry ploughboy cheers his team,
Wi' joy the tentie seedsman stalks;
But life to me's a weary dream,
A dream of ane that never wauks.
[Refrain : And maun I still on Menie doat,
  And bear the scorn that 's in her e'e ?
  For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,
  An' it winna let a body be!]1

The wanton coot the water skims,
Amang the reeds the ducklings cry,
The stately swan majestic swims,
And ev'ry thing is blest but I.
[Refrain : And maun I still on Menie doat,
  And bear the scorn that 's in her e'e ?
  For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,
  An' it winna let a body be!]1

The sheep-herd steeks his faulding slap,
And o'er the moorlands whistles shill ;
Wi' wild, unequal, wand'ring step,
I meet him on the dewy hill.
[Refrain : And maun I still on Menie doat,
  And bear the scorn that 's in her e'e ?
  For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,
  An' it winna let a body be!]1

And when the lark 'tween light and dark,
Blythe waukens by the daisy's side,
And mounts and sings on flitt'ring wings,
A wae-worn ghaist I hameward glide.
[Refrain : And maun I still on Menie doat,
  And bear the scorn that 's in her e'e ?
  For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,
  An' it winna let a body be!]1

Come, Winter, with thine angry howl,
And raging bend the naked tree;
Thy gloom will soothe my cheerless soul,
When Nature all is sad like me!
[Refrain : And maun I still on Menie doat,
  And bear the scorn that 's in her e'e ?
  For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,
  An' it winna let a body be!]1

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   J. Haydn 

J. Haydn sets stanzas 1-3, 5-7

About the headline (FAQ)

View text without footnotes

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 77.

1 omitted by Haydn

Glossary:

Shaw = woody grove by a water side
Mavis = trush
Lintwhite = linnet
Tentie = cautious
Wauks = wakens
Steeks = closes
Slap = gate to the sheep-fold

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Composed in Spring" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "I wish my Love were in a myre", JHW XXXII/3 no. 158, Hob. XXXIa no. 177, stanzas 1-3,5-7 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Mennie"
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2010-01-10
Line count: 56
Word count: 430

Mennie
Language: Czech (Čeština)  after the Scottish (Scots) 
Zas příroda se odívá
   v své jarní roucho veselé
a větříkem jí povívá
   vlas mokrý z rosné koupele.

A na Menie-li myslím jen
   tak stále bez vší naděje?
neb oči má jak šotky dva
   a každému se vysměje.

Nač petrklíčem údolí,
   nač fialkami kvete hvozd?
mně marně v háji šveholí
   tu konopka a jinde drozd.

Svým polem chodí rozsévač,
   hoch vesel volky pohání,
já chodím jako ve snu spáč
   a ze sna není probrání.

Tam slípka vodu rozrývá,
   zde kachny křičí v sítině,
tu hrá si labuť sněživá
   a já jsem smuten jedině.

Svou lísu ovčák zavírá
   a pohvizduje slatinou,
já v soumrak hledím do čirá,
   jak potkávám ho pěšinou.

A v červánku sbor skřivánků
   když od chudobek, od blatuch
se zvedá výš v nebeskou říš,
   jdu domů jako bludný duch.

Ó zaduj, zimo, přes vody
   a nahé stromy oděj v sníh,
ten smutek celé přírody
   žal utiší snad v prsou mých.

A na Menie-li myslím jen
   tak stále bez vší naděje?
neb oči má jak šotky dva
   a každému se vysměje.

Confirmed with BURNS, Robert. Výbor z písní a ballad, translated by Josef Václav Sládek, Praha: J. Otto, 1892.


Text Authorship:

  • by Josef Václav Sládek (1845 - 1912), "Mennie" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Composed in Spring"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-08-12
Line count: 36
Word count: 172

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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