Tuesday, June 12, 2018

It's Cherry Season Now

It's Cherry Season Now
by Joseba Sarrionandia


                                        Quand nous en serons au temps des cerises...
                                        Jean Baptiste Clément

It's cherry season now, but there are no cherries 
                                                       to be seen anywhere.

Yes, this is their time, because cherry season is 
                                                       from May to July.

The trees flowered in March and April,
                                                       but still there aren't any cherries.

It would be nice, as it's cherry season,
                                                       to see 

a sweet cherry or, if not, perhaps a bitter one.
                                                       Sweet cherries are red,

the bitter ones are yellowish; the bitter cherry flowered 
                                                       late, later than the sweet.

But nowadays you hardly see cherries anymore,
                                                    nor cherry trees.
A cherry tree needs special soil 
                                                    in order to grow right,

it won't give fruit just anywhere, especially not
                                                    sweet cherries.

It's true that bitter cherries come a bit more easily
                                                     than sweet ones,

even without the right soil you can still glean
                                                     bitter cherries.

These days you won't find cherries, sweet
                                                     or bitter.

It's best to plant a cherry tree so its sheltered
                                                     toward the northeast.

In dry lands it doesn't grow right, a cherry tree
                                                      grows stunted in the dry.

You won't see cherries big or small.
                                                      We will have to plant some cherry trees.

The cold winds on the plains, in open valleys,
                                                      are most detrimental.

Late winter and early spring frosts
                                                      are usually the worst.

The harvest depends on how the weather's been
                                                     throughout the year,

but it's hard to tell what sort of cherries
                                                    will be there for the picking.

Who knows if the cherry trees will grow, if they will have a chance to flower!
                                                    The season will come, certainly,

actually it's here already, but perhaps
                                                    there are no cherries.



[Orginal title: "Gerezien sasoia iritsi da". This English text based on Isaac Xubín's Galician translation "Xa é tempo de cereixas"]


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