As my mum pointed out to me in response to my previous post, we’d both gotten the quote a little wrong… (Not that it was necessarily relevant to that post; that was about my memory of the situation, such as it is.) After a little research, and because I have more rhubarb shots, I cannot resist quoting the entire – wonderful! – verse, as it was written by Elsa Beskow and published in Görans Bok in 1916:
En Vårvisa
– Ge rum, jag vill opp, sa Rabarberknopp.
Så sprängde han med sin röda topp,
men jorden sa stopp:
-Du får lugna dig lite, Rabarberknopp!
– Ge plats, jag vill opp, sa Rabarberknopp,
han svällde av styrka, han glödde av hopp,
-Pass på, jag vill opp, jag vässar min topp,
jag känner hur våren gror i min kropp!
-Tittut, tittopp, nu sticker han opp,
nu hälsar han glatt med sin röda topp
och svaras av kvittrande fåglars tropp:
-Välkommen hitopp,
välkommen, välkommen Rabarberknopp!
Quote fetched from Elsa Beskows Sagovärld
And just so those of you who *don’t* read Swedish might get an inkling of what the poem says, here’s a straight translation with no consideration for poetics…:
A Spring Song
-Give room, I want up, said Rhubarb bud
And he pushed with his red tip
but earth said stop:
-You’ll have to calm down, Rhubarb bud!
-Make space, I want up, said Rhubarb bud,
bursting with strength, glowing with hope
-Watch out, I want up, I’m sharpening my tip,
I can feel spring growing inside of me!
-Peekaboo, see who’s here, he’s coming through
his red tip greets us joyfully
and all the twittering birds respond:
-Welcome up,
welcome, welcome Rhubarb bud!
A photo blog 