2023-03-20
Poem of the Week, week 12: Aslaug Vaa "Fragment"
Enjoy a weekly poem by authors from Norway, throughout the year.
FRAGMENT
When we went out on the road
it was like stepping on a new earth.
Did the buttercup really look like this?
Had the birchlegs so many shoots before?
Did the gravel under our feet ever grate so happily?
Did ever the travelling salesman have so blue eyes?
Look how the hazelbush moves on the slope
and waves with its branches
and when you put a hand on your breast
it was like touching the taut strings of the harp.
Did you hear that?
Aslaug Vaa (1889-1965)
Translated by Fritz König
From Scandinavian Love Poems, An Anthology by Fritz König and Randi Marie Røsnes, Eget forlag, Drammen 2007, p. 132.
See the poem in Norwegian
Poem of the Week
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