Sunday 17 April 2011
Tune of the Day: The Slender Rowan
Traditional Russian song
This Russian folk song tells the sad tale of two trees in love: a sturdy oak and a slender rowan (or mountain-ash), prevented from coming together by a river that divides them.
Why are you abowing,
slender mountain rowan,
Bending your head down
to the very ground?
And across the highway,
over the wide river,
Standing just as lonely,
a tall oak hope does give her.
How can I, a rowan,
get to that great oak tree,
Than I would not have to
bow and sway so lonely.
With my slender branches
I would press him tightly.
And with our leaves twining,
whisper daily, nightly.
But the little rowan
cannot cross the river.
Seems its fate is settled:
sway alone forever.
Thanks to Denis for contributing this tune!