Lennart falls in the mud and recites a poem

The back row left to right are Mom and Margaretha in another pair of matching dresses.
The front row left to right is Brita, Lennart and Sara.
Mom kept this photo in her room next to her bed all her life, even after she lost her sight.

I think I haven't talked much about Lennart. Lennart and I have had a lot of fun together through the years. He was quite a bit younger than me so I wasn't in on all of the same things that he was doing at the time, but I remember some things.

One time all of us girls were going to Eksjö, even Brita, to something they called Marknad. Lennart was going to go along too and I'm not sure how old he was but he couldn't have been more than ten years old. We rode our bicycles to Österbymo, and then from Österbymo to Eksjö, we were going to ride on a narrow gauge railroad. We were used to a regular railroad but this narrow gauge railroad, it shook and it rattled and it rocked back and forth. After a little bit of this, all of a sudden, Lennart stood up and said, "If any of you have false teeth, keep your mouths shut or they'll fall out!" Then you can imagine how we all giggled.

Bernt i Storängen and Lennart had some escapades sometimes. One time they decided they were going to try to shoot the rooster with a cork gun. They had cork guns where the cork was attached to the gun with a string, so when they shot the gun, the cork flew out, but the string meant they'd never lose the cork. The string wasn't very long though so they had to get up pretty close to the rooster. They were pacing after him, and he went around up onto the manure pile. At the bottom of the manure pile, it was always wet. It was set up so there was drainage down into a hole underneath, but it was still always mushy and yucky around the base there. In the excitement of getting close to the rooster, Lennart slipped and fell. I remember seeing him coming walking up through the yard. Mama made him take his clothes off outside; he smelled too bad to come in the house with them on. He had to go straight into the bath. Bernt had followed along afterwards laughing so hard. He just sat in the yard laughing. Even as Mama was trying to look stern, we could see the corner of her mouth turn up too.

I don't know if I've talked about the last day of the school year before summer vacation; it was called Examen. It was exciting because all the girls got new dresses. All the kids were supposed to show off a little bit what we had learned. We had sort of a program and the mothers brought in refreshments, of course. It was like a big party. Well one year, Lennart was going to read a poem about a hazelnut bush. He needed to know it by heart and I was set to help him learn it. As a result, I still remember that poem:

Hasselbusken           

                                               

Har du set mej så fin och ny                                   

då först jag vacknat om våren?                  

Långt för en svalen res till förbi                 

och haggtorns till knoppat i snorren,                                             

Då står jag redan med gula hängen                      

och soliga sippans ser upp i sängen           .          

Jag står och vänter på mina blad               

Och när de komma blir jag så glad.            

           

I believe this is a hazel bush in early spring

I can't remember what I did myself that year, but I can remember Lennart standing up and saying that poem.

(Here's my translation of the poem:

The Hazel Bush

Have you seen me so fine and new

when first I wake in the spring?

Long before the swallow flies by

and hawthornes have budded in their thickets,

I already stand with my yellow tassels

and sunny flowers peek up in bed.

I stand and wait for my leaves

and when they come, I'll be glad.

If you know who the poet is or have other suggestions, let me know :)