First Canto
“He took in one hand an enormous rail
and pointed at the road to Buda.”
Ilosvai
The sun shrivels up the sparse alkali flats,
parched herds of grasshoppers are grazing about –
not a new blade in all the the stubble, not a handbreadth
in green in all the broad meadows. A dozen laborers
or so are snoring under the stack – all their work
is going fine, but the big haywagons loiter there,
empty or only half loaded with hay.
A lanky sweep dandles its skinny neck into the well
and spies for water – imagine a giant gnat sucking
the blood of old earth. Thirsty oxen mill around
the through, making war on an armyt of flies. But
lazybone Laczk
(Janos Arany)
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Based on Topics: Work & Career PoemsBased on Keywords: lanky, armyt, alkali, dandles, buda, handbreadth