By Terje Dragseth (translated by Annebelle Despard)

 

 

Prayer is light

so shine

when the winds moan

in their long and short days

shine then

as the winds are moaning

 

the light of the birch

the light of the poem

incantations songs

light

 

the cosmic wheel rolls in all its ineffable weight

the poor man’s hovel

poems incantations songs

light

 

the atoms churn in shining stones

oxygen bubbles from bright fish

in the darkest depths of the sea

the sigh swirls into the world

the atoms churn

light

clouds are falling

sulphur and ash

glutted with death

with no inner glow

towards earth and man

 

still we see heaven’s host of stars

still we breathe without a mask

 

my sigh my moan

to a shining prayer

 

light

over the world

‘s

change

 

//

 

Forfatternesklimaaksjon.no has during the last year collaborated with Free Word and Weather Stations. Now we are about to enlarge our partnership. In the weeks to come we will present translations of five Norwegian poems from our homepage at the Free Words website under the banner «On the Road to Paris». The Norwegian Association of Literary Translators and NORLA – Norwegian Literature Abroad – have supported the translations. You can read more about the collaboration between Free Word and NWCC here.