Песня про стирку

[b_a_n_s_h_e_e]

Думала, продержусь до конца марта, ан нет, раньше прибежала :) Посмотрите, какая прелесть - это песенка для стирки, напечатанная в 1900 году в журнале The Girl's Own Paper. Никак не пойму, она просто позитивная или чуток циничная - по-моему, и то, и другое :) И, вообще, ее можно, стиснув зубы в довольную улыбку, напевать при любой работе. Вот как я сейчас. Joyful in drudgery, queen of your toil - yeah, baby!
Кто бы ее перевел, а?

Soap and rub, sing and scrub,
Sing at the washing tub,
Joyful in drudgery, queen of your toil;
Sordid the slop and steam,
White as a hawthorn dream
Shall its fair outcome seem,
Linen immaculate, guiltless of soil.
Souse and swing, rinse and wring,
Over the mangle sing,
Let no reluctant frown gladness despoil;
What though the back rebel?
Tired fingers ache and swell?
Sing! You shall conquer well,
Queen of your toil!
Soap and rub, sing and scrub,
Sing at the washing tub,
Joyful in drudgery, queen of your toil!

Comments

[ivha-ua-nsk.livejournal.com]

Прелесть!

Щас меня убьют правоверные толкинисты, но вот - не могу не сопоставить:

Sing hey! For the bath at close of day
that washes the weary mud away
A loon is he that will not sing
O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better then rain or rippling streams
is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed
but better is beer if drink we lack,
and Water Hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!


Короче, вот самое место, где петь! Всегда!

[b-a-n-s-h-e-e.livejournal.com]

Я ее тоже сразу вспомнила :) И еще вилки тупите, гните ножи - моя любовь с детства! Вот интересно, "вилки тупите, гните ножи" может быть реакцией на такие вот добропорядочные детские песенки?

[ivha-ua-nsk.livejournal.com]

Именно! Она и построена похоже. Вообще, думаю, что может - вряд ли Профессорское детство было полностью свободно от детских песенок.На уровне Белого Знания могло отпечататься только так.

А мотивчик есть, кстати:?
(облегченно вздыхает: за ночь меня не убили толкинисты))) )

[b-a-n-s-h-e-e.livejournal.com]

Нет мотивчика, увы.

[athgarvan.livejournal.com]

love it

[chantfleuri.livejournal.com]

Мне начало напоминает die neue Mrs de Winter :)))
А продолжение - в какой-нибудь современный бродвейский мюзикл про жизнь Бруклина.

[b-a-n-s-h-e-e.livejournal.com]

Да, драить усадьбу и радоваться :)

[skan-sen.livejournal.com]

Poem
Song of a Shirt

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang the "Song of the Shirt."

"Work! work! work!
While the cock is crowing aloof!..........................10
And work—work—work,
Till the stars shine through the roof!
It's Oh! to be a slave
Along with the barbarous Turk,
Where woman has never a soul to save,
If this is Christian work!

"Work— work—work,
Till the brain begins to swim;
Work—work—work,
Till the eyes are heavy and dim!
Seam, and gusset, * and band,............................20
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream!

"Oh, Men, with Sisters dear!
Oh, men, with Mothers and Wives!
It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives!
Stitch—stitch—stitch,
In poverty, hunger and dirt,...................................30
Sewing at once, with a double thread,
A Shroud as well as a Shirt.

"But why do I talk of Death?
That Phantom of grisly bone,
I hardly fear its terrible shape,
It seems so like my own—
It seems so like my own,
Because of the fasts I keep;
Oh, God! that bread should be so dear
And flesh and blood so cheap!..............................40

"Work—work—work!
My labour never flags;
And what are its wages? A bed of straw,
A crust of bread—and rags.
That shattered roof—this naked floor—
A table—a broken chair—
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!

"Work—work—work!
From weary chime to chime,.................................50
Work—work—work,
As prisoners work for crime!
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumbed,
As well as the weary hand.

"Work—work—work,
In the dull December light,
And work—work—work,
When the weather is warm and bright—..................60
While underneath the eaves
The brooding swallows cling
As if to show me their sunny backs
And twit me with the spring.

"Oh! but to breathe the breath
Of the cowslip and primrose sweet—
With the sky above my head,
And the grass beneath my feet;
For only one short hour
To feel as I used to feel,..........................................70
Before I knew the woes of want
And the walk that costs a meal!

"Oh! but for one short hour!
A respite however brief!
No blessed leisure for Love or Hope,
But only time for Grief!
A little weeping would ease my heart,
But in their briny bed
My tears must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread!".....................................80

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch,—
Would that its tone could reach the Rich!—
She sang this "Song of the Shirt!"


Notes

barbarous Turk: The speaker considers the Turks barbarous because they are not Christians.
gusset: Cloth sewn into a garment or glove to make it stronger or wider.
Shroud: Burial cloth; sheet that wraps a corpse.
cowslip and primrose: Flowers.
ring: Ring-shaped gathering place in London's Hyde Park or Regency Park. People would meet there to socialize or exchange news.

[skan-sen.livejournal.com]

Вах! Добавилось... (хотя, наверно, все это тут все знают и слышали)
В молодости мне эта песенка нравилась - превые 3-4 куплетов пела какая-то сладкоголосая панк-певичка.
Жаалобно так.

[b-a-n-s-h-e-e.livejournal.com]

Да, тоже ассоциация :)

[very-round-cat.livejournal.com]

По-моему, тоже - и позитивная, и чуть циничная :) Необычная схема рифмовки - aabcccb.