I spent five years serving the rich man, Watching o’er his horses in the field, And for that the rich man paid me with Oxen five, trained well to pull the yoke. Out of them, a lion slaughtered one, In the grass I found the lion’s trail, – I should have kept watch over my kraal, Should have kept a fire in the night. And the second one went mad and ran Roused by the shrill-singing stinging wasp. Full five days I wandered in the wilds, But I never found it again. Two more oxen died by drinking slop That my neighbour poisoned with henbane, And I saw them sprawled on the ground With their lolling swollen tongues all blue. And the last one left I slew myself So that I could throw a lavish feast While my neighbour’s house was ablaze And inside the tied-up neighbour screamed. ___ From the Abyssinian Songs 4-poem cycle by Nikolai Gumilev, 1911. Translated by me on a whim today at 4 a.m. Moscow time 😆
