Poem of the Week, week 34: Nils-Aslak Valkeapää "Unborn Reindeer Calf"

UNBORN REINDEER CALF

unborn reindeer calf
unripe cloud berry
nursing calf

Kneel by the fire

All summer I tended bluethroats
and the falcons flew
cuckoos called

I became aware of fall
for the stars started to be visible
the moon shone clearer
and at night the fog covered the rivers

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää

Translated by Lars Nordström, Ralph Salisbury and Harald Gaski in Nordic Poetry Festival New York, 1993, p. 101.

See the poem in Sámi and Norwegian

Poem of the Week

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