Vers af denne verden

Der brænder et lys
i min stue.
Det holder jeg
hånden mod.
Hvor stråler
dets verme venlig.
Hvor föles den
tryg og god.
Hvad blev der af
varmen i verden?
Hvornår skal dens
magt fornys?
Vi går på en jord,
hvor man trænger
til varmen fra
et lys.

- Piet Hein

ég er

ég er maður af mold
meistaraverk
hugur minn haf
hjartað þess brim
andi minn allt
alvaldsins glóð
ég lofsyng þig líf
lithvörf þín ber

ég var fangi þinn frost
fann varla til
reiði mín rík
ég var rjúkandi flak
hvert spor mitt var spurn
er sprendi af sér ok
ég er brynvarið barn
er biður um yl.

tregi og tár
trú mín og ár
vakandi var
von mín um svar

ég er eldur og ís
ástmögur alls
fýk um sem fræ
faðmlög mín hlý
mildur og meyr
mælskur og tær
líf mitt er ljóð
ljóshaf og bros

einn morgun ég mun
mæta þér guð
mitt kjarklaysi klætt
í kyrtil þinn sól
þá syngur mín sál
silfurtær orð
í hambrigða hljóm
og hugur minn rór

Hörður Torfason

Afsked

I nat, hvor den blomstrende guldregn er bleg
og månen diset og hvid,
er din mund som brombær, hvis mörke glöd
blev modnet ved midsommertid.
Men en særhed ved brombær,
hvorom du ikke har lært:
för de når deres fulde södme og kraft,
har de mærket en frostnats snært.

De dugslagne nætter i juni er svöbt
i sval og tindrende dis,
- i oktober brænder de stjerner tungt
mod kulde og höstligt forlis.
Og den lærdom har du erfaret,
når vi mödes ved næste Sankt Hans,
at til ingenting glöder hjertet så hedt
som lövfaldets hvirveldans.

Poul Örum
Sommerens genfærd

Over the rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Arlen & Harburg

ARS BREVIS

There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness.

Piet Hein

The Hours

"You cannot find peace by avoiding life, Leonard."

"Dear Leonard, to look life in the face, always, to look life in the face, and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it, for what it is, and then, to put it away. Leonard, always the years between us, always the years, always the love, always...the hours..."

~ Virginia Woolf

De Evige Tre

Der er to mænd i verden,
der bestandigt krydser min vej,
den ene er ham jeg elsker,
den anden elsker mig.

Den ene er i en natlig drøm,
der bor i mit mørke sind
den anden står ved mit hjertes dør,
jeg lukker ham aldrig ind.

Den ene gav mig et vårligt pust
af lykke der snart fór hen,
den anden gav mig sit hele liv
og fik aldrig en time igen.

Den ene bruser i blodets sang
hvor elskov er ren og fri,
den anden er et med den triste dag
som drømmene drukner i.

Hver kvinde står mellem disse to,
forelsket, elsket og ren
en gang hver hundrede år kan det ske
de smelter sammen til én.

Tove Ditlevsen

A Spoonful of Sugar

In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
you find the fun and snap!
The job's a game

And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! Aspree!
It's very clear to me

That a...
Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

A robin feathering his nest
Has very little time to rest
While gathering his
Bits of twine and twig

Though quite intent in his pursuit
He has a merry tune to toot
He knows a song
Will move the job along

For a...
Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, harmony;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sorrow, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Girl

"Sometimes a girl is so lovely a guy becomes stupid."

Waiter Rant

Seeking

"Seek not the path of those that go before you
- seek what it is they sought after."

Sensei Sotoshi

My Boy

I know a boy who is sky-soft brown
I know a boy who is sky-soft brown
The dirt leaps for joy when his feet touch the ground.
His strut is a peacock
His eye is burning brass
His smile is sorghum syrup drippin´ slow-sweet to the last
I know a boy who is sky-soft brown

FromToni Morrison´s novel The Bluest Eye

Eftir regn

Hann styttir upp
Og sjá, ó, finn þetta kattmjúka
laufhaf sem bylgjast til himins, svo
undragrænt upp úr röku bikinu
Ég líka, galdragræn upp úr bikinu.
Bylgjast.
Til himins, takk.

Jóhanna Sveinsdóttir
27. apríl, 1995

Kveðja

Set á mig fjallahringinn
áður en ég hverf
út í blámann
far vel
mófugl
snjófugl
Jóhanna Sveinsdóttir
Guð og mamma hans (1994)

Veðurútlit

Hindisvík: þokumóða
Strandir: ládautt
segir veðurspákonan og
dillar rassinum framan
í eftirvæntingarfulla þjóðina
áður en hún tekur upp beyglað
trompetið og blæs

Óskar Þór Óskarsson

Happiness

Strange as my life has been
I finally found her
- the Happiness -
or maybe it was she that found me
and came to me
trippin´ and tap-dancin´ like
a silly little (~millenium) mouse

Now we trip and tap-dance
together she and me
through life
- happy -

Þetta smáljóð eftir þúsaldarmúsina fær að fljóta hér með!

Leisure

What is life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies

MIDARE GAMI (Tangled Hair)

To punish
Men for their endless sins,
God gave me
This fair skin,
This long black hair!

Yosano Akiko

Fan

This fan,
A keepsake,
It's pivot
Almost ruined,
Opened and closed, opened and closed.

Yosano Akiko

HAIKU

Old Man Sleeps

In my hidden house,
no teeth left in the mouth,
but good luck abounds

Kakurega ya
ha no nai kuchi de
fuku wa uchi

Kobayashi Issa

From "The Spring of my Life and Selected Haiku"
Translated by Sam Hamill
Shambala Centaur Editions

The Fly

Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink, and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

William Blake

Gjöf

Ég veit ekki hvort þú hefur,
huga þinn við það fest.
Að fegursta gjöf sem þú gefur,
er gjöfin sem varla sést.

Ástúð í andartaki,
augað sem glaðlegt hlær,
hlýja í handartaki
hjarta sem örar slær.

Allt sem þú hugsar í hljóði
heiminum breytir til.
Gef þú úr sálarsjóði,
sakleysi fegurð og yl.

Úlfur Ragnarsson

Blómvöndur

Örsmár geimur í blómvendi.
Fegurð fullkomnast í andartaki
og birtir svip eilífðar
í höndum mínum...fyrir þig.

Toshiki Toma

Næturferð

lestirnar og leðurblökurnar
á ferð í nóttinni
að sjálfsögðu í útlöndum

vindurinn og táningarnir
æpandi um nætur
að sjálfsögðu hér heima

allt verður þeim svefnlausa
lagt að jöfnu
deilt með kvaðratrót þess draumvana

uns bernskan birtist undir morgun
með neðansjávarborgir
græn tígrisdýr og dverg í hverjum steini

að færa þér huliðshjálm

Geirlaugur Magnússon
Úr ljóðabókinni Nýund (2000)