Havet / Ocean

Olav H. Hauge
Translated by Robert Bly and Robert Hedin

Dette var havet.
Sjølve ålvoret,
veldigt og grått.
Men likesom hugen
i einslege stunder
brått opnar
glidande spegelsyn
mot gåtefulle djup -
soleis kan òg havet
ein blå morgentime
opna seg
mot himmel og einsemd.
Sjå, blenkjer havet,
eg har òg stjernor
og blåe djup.

Ocean
Translated by Robert Bly and Robert Hedin
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This was the ocean.
Vast and gray,
gravity itself.
Yet just as the mind
in solitary moments
suddenly opens
its shifting reflections
to secret depths -
so the ocean one blue morning
can open itself
to sky and solitude.
See, the ocean gleams,
I, too, have stars
and blue depths.

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Source: Dikt i samling, 2008, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo. In English: The Dream We Carry: Selected and Last Poems of Olav Hauge. Copper Canyon Press 2008. About the poet here, here, here and here. Photo by rosberond (flickr).