Fritiof in Arcadia

On Colla Bella's heights, where goats are bounding

And pine-trees thinly shade the yellow sand,

There is a grassy glade, with palms surrounding

And gently sloping to the vine-clad strand.

There one sees Corsica in clearer weather

And distant provinces in azure rows:

There one can smell the clover and the heather,

And one can wander lightly as a feather

Up in the mountain, without any clothes.

I rambled nude and happy there one morning:

I'd come from Gothenburg across the seas.

A fig-leaf wreath my body was adorning,

And in a box I carried bread and cheese.

It was a lovely day: above me singing

I heard the little nightingale so rare:

Just like a bird set free from prison winging,

I gamboled gaily, back to Nature springing,

For I would lie upon Earth's bosom fair.

The goats and sheep were leaping all around me:

Like little clouds they looked, so white and small.

I felt the nightingale's sweet song surround me –

I was a part of all this pastoral!

But in a while, about my dinner thinking,

Upon the grass I sat to taste my fare:

My wine I opened and I soon was drinking,

But when my head I turned I started blinking –

I saw a naked maiden smiling there!

In all my life I'd seen such beauty never!

She came and stood quite near me on the green,

And then before I got my wits together

Two other lovely maids came on the scene.

They laughed and frolicked there without chemises

And sang: "Oh, happy days are here again!"

Then up I sprang, forgetting wine and cheeses!

I tossed my fig-leaf girdle to the breezes!

The maidens ran while I pursued in vain.

But in the evening I was in the city,

And there again I met the lovely three,

And they were clad in dresses white and pretty,

As sweet three graces as a man could see.

But one so boldly took me by the hand then,

And said "I'm leaving on an early train".

We walked beneath the palms along the strand, then:

We talked and drew some pictures in the sand, then,

And sang: "Oh, happy days are here again!"

"I come from San Francisco," said the maiden,

"That's why I like to climb about the hills.

I like to frolic without clothing laden,

For I love Nature without fuss or frills.

Yes, in America we're far more clever,

While here in Europe you are more mondaine!

But you and I are much the same, however –

Oh let us wander side by side forever!

Oh, darling, happy days are here again!"

Evert Taube Himlajord