Chirps in my Garden: Satis Shroff

Wer den Dichter will verstehen

Muß in Dichters Lande gehen.

- Goethe

 

CHIRPS IN MY GARDEN (Satis Shroff)

Ach,

To lie in bed

And listen to the birds sing.

I peer at the pine trees above,

Heavily laden with fluffy snow,

Like sentinels of the Black Forest.

 

I espy something moving:

Three deer with moist black noses,

Sniffing the Kappler air,

Strut among the low bushes

In all their elegance,

Only to vanish silently,

Into the recesses of the Foret Noir.

 

I hear the robin,

Rotkehlchen,

With its clear, loud, pearly tone,

As it greets the day.

Just before sunrise the black bird,

Amsel,

Which flies high on the tree tops,

Delivers its early arias.

The great titmouse stretches its wings

And starts to sing.

 

The brown sparrows turn up

With their repertoire,

Rap in the garden,

Twitter and chirp aloud.

All this noise makes the bullfinch alert,

For it also wants to be heard.

It starts its high pitched melody

With gusto in the early hours.

 

The starling clears its throat:

What comes is whistles,

Mingled with smacking sounds.

The woodpecker,

Specht,

Isn’t an early bird,

Starts its day late.

Pecks with its beak,

At a hurried tempo.

 

If that doesn’t get you out of your bed,

I’m sure you’re on holiday,

Or thank God it’s Sunday.

Other feathered friends

Who frequent our Black Forest house,

Are the green finch, the jay,

Goldfinch which we call ‘Stieglitz,’

Larks, thrush and the oriole,

The Bird of the Year,

On rare occasions.

 

Glossary:

English, German, Latin names

Robin (Rotkehlchen): Erithacus rubecula

Black bird (Amsel): Turdus merula

Titmouse (Kohlmeise): Parus major

Bullfinch (Rotfinke):

Greenfinch (jay): Chloris chloris

Starling: Sturnus vulgaris                                   

Woodpecker (Specht):

Stieglitz: Carduelis carduelis

Oriole: Oriolus oriolus