In his Commentary (note to line
49) Kinbote quotes a quatrain from Shade's poem "The Sacred
Tree":
The ginkgo leaf, in golden hue,
when shed,
A muscat
grape,
Is an old-fashioned butterfly,
ill-spread,
In shape.
Here is Goethe's poem
"Ginkgo Biloba" from "The West-Eastern Divan":
Dieses Baumes Blatt, der von
Osten
Meinem Garten anvertraut,
Gibt geheimen Sinn zu kosten,
Wie's den
Wissenden erbaut.
Ist es ein lebendig Wesen,
Das sich
in sich selbst getrennt?
Sind es zwei, die sich erlesen,
Daß man sie als
eines kennt?
Solche Fragen zu erwidern
Fand ich
wohl den rechten Sinn.
Fühlst du nicht an meinen Liedern,
Daß ich eins und
doppelt bin?
This leaf from a
tree in the East,
Has been given
to my garden.
It reveals a certain
secret,
Which pleases me and
thoughtful people.
Does it
represent One living creature
Which has divided itself?
Or are these Two, which have decided,
That they should be as One?
To reply to such
a Question,
I found the right
answer:
Do you notice in my songs
and verses
That I am One
and Two?
At the end of the same note
Kinbote remarks that 'tree' in
Zemblan is grados. Note that tri (pronounced rather
like tree) is Russian for "three" (S, K, G?)
and radost' means "joy".
Btw., ginkgo + grape +
hybrid = king + geography + bird
Alexey
Sklyarenko