We often get plastic containers as gifts when we visit others’ homes during festivals such as Navaratri. But it was unusual to find some lines on this container….

The words are written on two sides of the container. The first side:

Of course, there seem to be spelling mistakes. The words are:

“SEEST Thou yon smiling Orange? Upon the tree still hangs it, Already March bath (‘hath’ would be correct) vanish’d And new-born flowers are shooting”

Er, what are these new-born flowers shooting? Are they ..er..”budding” photographers? ;-)

Here’s the second side:

“I draw night (obviously, “nigh” is the right word) to thee, then And there I say, ‘Oh Orange, Thou ripe and juicy Orange, Thou sweet and luscious”

At this point the poem seems to break down!

I googled the first line, and amazingly, got to “The Poems of Goethe, Songs, Part V”…

and the words given are:

SEEST thou yon smiling Orange? Upon the tree still hangs it; Already March hath vanish’d, And new-born flow’rs are shooting. I draw nigh to the tree then, And there I say: Oh Orange, Thou ripe and juicy Orange, Thou sweet and luscious Orange, I shake the tree, I shake it, Oh fall into my lap!

How intriguing it was, and still is, to find this on the side of a plastic canister!

And no…I don’t have the container any more. My maid loved it, and I gave it to her!

PS. another offshoot thought from this post. I am now, I notice, using “googling” as a verb, the way we now (in India at least) use “xeroxing”!