YOU IN THE WIND AND THE WIND IN YOU
It’s blowing You’re whispering
the spellingwhistling of your mouth
is wholly at one with
the leafwhistling of the trees
the swaying trees
you in the wind and the wind in you
You’re blowing It’s whispering
treetoprushing earbuzzing
you’re almost blowing away
while the breeze remains here
you can be heard
mouthwhistling somewherethere
treewhistling somewherehere
You-rushing leafbuzzing
nowhere everywhere
DU I VINDEN OG VINDEN I DEG
Det blåser Du hvisker og tisker
stavelseshvislinga i munnen
er helt i ett med
bladhvislinga i trærne
de svaiende trærne
du i vinden og vinden i deg
Du blåser Det hvisker og tisker
tretoppsbrusende øresusende
blåser du nesten vekk
mens brisen forblir her
høres du
munnhvislende deretsteds
trehvislende heretsteds
Du-brusende bladsusende
ingensteds allesteds
Translated by May-Brit Akerholt.
From Bertrand Besigye (1972–), Og du dør så langsomt at du tror du lever, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo 1993.
Poem of the Week. 52 poems throughout the year
Take part in a weekly journey through 52 poems by authors from Norway throughout 2019 – Norway’s year as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
From the time when the earliest texts were recorded in runic inscriptions, poetry has had a strong position in Norway. By introducing a new poem each week throughout 2019, we aim to highlight the quality and breadth of Norwegian poetry. «Poem of the Week» presents 52 poems, inspired by the changing seasons and the passing of the year. The selection has been made by Tone Carlsen and Annette Vonberg, and consists of poems from the earliest handwritten manuscripts up until today, with a special emphasis on contemporary poetry.
You can find all poems in this series here. Read more about Norway as Guest of Honour at Frankfurt Book Fair here.
