Come spring just like a tiny mouse

the creek skips out and stops a bit

and scampers up from underneath

the ice to run on top of it

squeaks and sniffs and takes a breath

until it seems quite safe to say

at last I’ve broken through the ice

from night into the bright of day

Sets out to meander babbling

ditties at first no one knows

for a moustache mouse-style

sticks a straw beneath the nose

twists and turns but singing still

the same tune he will reappear:

the highest peaks of happiness

are reached by living free of fear

soon it’s buzzed by spry mosquitoes

picked up and blown by the wind

to a scavenger-type gale

that will quickly have it pinned

to every corner of the sky

till there’s nothing else to hear:

the highest peaks of happiness

are reached by living free of fear

border crossing gates are stuck

in up positions and a pair

of storks construct a nest on top

where they can sit and boldly stare

up at the sky and sing the song

that every frog just loves to cheer:

the very heart of happiness

beats in living free of fear

It’s whistled by the power-lines

and the linemen on the poles

by the robins on the line and

the rain that from the gable rolls

it’s blasted by the mountain peaks

and shrieked with full force by the stark

attempt at flight unaided for

the first time by a fledgling lark

As the Sun ignores its route at noon

to hum the little tune oh dear oh dear

the highest peaks of happiness

are reached by living free of fear

and pours its brightness amply so

at least a slender ray can clear

its way to shadowed cracks where life

is still lived in the grip of fear

to places where the soul can only

dream of living free of fear

______________________

©Sándor Kányádi, 2000. Translation Paul Sohar.
From THE LITTLE GLOBE-TROTTING MOUSE
Holnap Publishing Co., Budapest

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