The Householders Lament

*
"The Book of Odes", by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1908],

p. 55

"The Householder'S LAMENT"

The marshland holds the carambola tree;

Soft and pliant its branches be.

With its careless beauty and tender sheen,

The life of a tree is the life for me.

The marshland rears the carambola tree;

All purple and red its blossoms be.

In careless beauty and tender sheen,

Would I were childless and bland like thee.

The marshland loves the carambola tree;

Soft and sweet are the fruits I see.

Clothed with beauty and sunlit sheen,

The rateless and roofless life for me.