The Schwarzwald in Merry May (Satis Shroff)

And after April,when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds,
And all the swallows!
(Robert Browning)

The Schwarzwald in May (Satis Shroff)

Ah, the Black Forest,
Whether you’re in Triberg
Or in Feldberg,
The smell of the lush green grass,
After the April showers,
In the gentle glaciated meadows,
Where the calves and cows
Are grazing peacefully with horses.

Now and then you discern a moo,
Like an Alpine horn,
In the tranquil landscape.
Along the gushing brooks,
The toads and frogs greet you,
With their croaks.
The Spring begins blossom for blossom.
May, the merriest month,
When lusty hearts begin to blossom.
Ah, it’s the sunshine,
The fresh air and the hormones released.

Apple-trees in bloom,
And daffodils flourishing
Alongside wild grass.
The leaves flapping like wings,
As the Höllentäler blows.

I sit in my Schwarzwald terrace,
With its stone walls,
Hares and birds around me.
As I sip my morning coffee,
A brown squirrel dashes past,
For he’s the new inhabitant
In a blackbird’s nest,
And lives on freshly hatched eggs.

A one-legged blackbird comes by,
Hopping on one leg,
Only to fly away clumsily.
The brown squirrel isn’t
The only nest-plunderer,
The beautiful feathered jay
Is fond of it too.

Hovering above are
A pair of Mäusebuzzards,
Scanning and scrutunizing
The Black Forest and meadows below,
Searching for even
The faintest movements,
Of mice in the fields.

Above the terrace is a palisade
Of dark pine trees,
With a clearing below the slope.
A solitary deer comes by,
Stoops, relishes, chews and swallows
The wild berries and buds.
The deer is used to humans.
An old, fat fox appears occasionally,
His mouth waters when he espies
The rabbits in thick fur,
On a sunny day in May.
There are humans around,
Perhaps another time,
Thinks the fox and vanishes
In the undergrowth.