back to Sándor Petőfi

“The Shepherd Rides on a Donkey” by Sándor Petőfi 🇭🇺 (1 Jan 182331 Jul 1849)
Translated from the Hungarian by & Peter Zollman
The shepherd rides in donkey-back
The shepherd rides in donkey-back,
His feet are dangling wide,
The guy is big, but bigger still
His bitterness inside.
He played his flute, he grazed his flock
Upon the grassy hill
When he was told his sweetheart girl
Was desperately ill.
He rides his donkey in a flash
And races to her bed,
But by the time he reached the house
His precious one was dead.
The lad was bitter, hoped to die,
But what he did instead:
He took a stick and struck a blow
Upon the donkey’s head.