Emily Dickinson The Fringe Gentian

Горчанка—маленький цветок
Хотела розой стать;
Смеялось лето: «Не смогла
Судьбу ты поменять!»

Похолодало, скоро снег..., 
Лиловый цвет густой
Все склоны гор заполонил;
Где лето? Прячет нос!

Горчанка холода ждала
Настал её черёд
Оделась в королевский цвет.
«Когда мой час придёт?»


Original

God made a little gentian;
It tried to be a rose
And failed, and all the summer laughed.
But just before the snows

There came a purple creature
That ravished all the hill;
And summer hid her forehead,
And mockery was still.

The frosts were her condition;
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North evoked it.
"Creator! shall I bloom?"

Note: For centuries, the purple dye trade was centered in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre in modern day Lebanon. The Phoenicians’ “Tyrian purple” came from a species of sea snail now known as Bolinus brandaris, and it was so exceedingly rare that it became worth its weight in gold.