Good servant Mollberg, what’s happened to thee,
Whom without coat and hatless I see?
Bloody thy mouth–and thou’rt lacking a tooth!
Where have you been, brother?–tell me the truth.
“At Rostock, good sir,
Did the trouble occur.
Over me and my harp
An argument sharp
Arose, touching my playing–pling plingeli plang;
And a bow-legged cobbler coming along
Struck me in the mouth–pling plingeli plang.
“I sat there and played–no carouse could one see–
The Polish Queen’s Polka–G-major the key:
The best kind of people were gathered around,
And each drank his schoppen ‘down to the ground.’
I don’t know just how
Began freshly the row,
But some one from my head
Knocked my hat, and thus said:
‘What is Poland to thee?’–Pling plingeli plang–
‘Play us no polka!’ Another one sang:
‘Now silent be!’–Pling plingeli plang.
“Hear, my Maecenas, what still came to pass.
As I sat there in quiet, enjoying my glass,
On Poland’s condition the silence I broke:
‘Know ye, good people,’ aloud thus I spoke,
‘That all monarchs I
On this earth do defy
My harp to prevent
From giving song vent
Throughout all this land–pling plingeli plang!
Did only a single string to it hang,
I’d play a polka–pling plingeli plang!’
“There sat in the corner a sergeant old,
Two notaries and a dragoon bold,
Who cried ‘Down with him! The cobbler is right!
Poland earns the meeds of her evil might!’
From behind the stove came
An old squint-eyed dame,
And flung at the harp
Glass broken and sharp;
But the cobbler–pling plingeli plang–
Made a terrible hole in my neck–that long!
There hast thou the story–pling plingeli plang.
“O righteous world! Now I ask of thee
If I suffered not wrongly?” “Why, certainly!”
“Was I not innocent?” “Bless you, most sure!”
“The harp rent asunder, my nose torn and sore,
Twas hard treatment, I trow!
Now no better I know
Than to go through the land
With my harp in my hand,
Play for Bacchus and Venus–kling klang–
With masters best that e’er played or sang;
Attend me, Apollo!–pling plingeli plang.”
(Carl Michael Bellman)
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Based on Topics: World Poems, Truth Poems, People Poems, Silence Poems, Brothers Poems, Arguments PoemsBased on Keywords: wrongly, poland, dragoon, maecenas, meeds, polka, hatless, klang, bow-legged, notaries, squint-eyed
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