Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Magnus Sigurdsson - some poems from iceland



Vetrarhugur          

What’s the winter for?
To remember love.
  — Theodore Roethke
  
Það hefur gránað
í fjöll,
og haustvindarnir
æða naprir
milli húsa. 
Samt hlakka ég
til komandi vetrar. 
Þegar áin streymir
milli skara,
og raddirnar
berast óravegu
í stillunum
milli
okkar tveggja, 
í mánuðinum
með járnnafnið.
Þegar orðin eru
einsog kalt stál 
og það er málmbragð
milli tanna.

     Winter Thoughts

What’s the winter for?
To remember love.
  — Theodore Roethke
  
The mountain
has turned grey,
and autumn winds
whip sharply
between buildings.
Yet I look forward
to the coming winter.
When rivers channel
through border ice
and voices carry
far away
in the stillness,
between
us,
in the months
with iron names
when words are
like cold steel,
and leave a metallic
taste between my teeth.


                   trans. Meg Matich



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