Living
Popular Dancing Song
Translated by John Bowring (1830) · From Poetry of the Magyars (1830)
Lads! come hasten to the ball!
See the lasses waiting all;
Shake your feet and form the line:
See the maidens! Bring the wine!
Life is strung with pearls.
Hark! the spurs are tinkling sweet,
Csizmas echo on the feet;
Feet and hands move joyously,
And the dance is full of glee:
Life is strung with pearls.
Where the smiling maidens be,
There the happy youths we see;
Up and down the waving row,
With Tartarian steps they go:
Life is full of pearls.
Woman! thou whose spring is past,
Join the dance, though 'twere the last;
Bask thee in the genial heat,
Warm thy heart, and shake thy feet:
Life is full of pearls!
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous Hungarian Popular Songs. “Popular Dancing Song.” Translated by John Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-hungarian/20/.
Chicago
Anonymous Hungarian Popular Songs. “Popular Dancing Song.” Translated by John Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-hungarian/20/.
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