Wednesday, December 1, 2021

THÓR STEFÁNSSON

 


THÓR STEFÁNSSON

 

In Your Light

 

IV

 

1

 

There is nothing to regret.

 

Our separation brings

promises of reuniting.

 

Without your presence

I’m content with desire.

 

Does satisfaction ever

equal a good expectation?

 

 

2

 

Our reunion always brings pleasure.

 

And yet sometimes

we are together for years

 

without noticing it.

 

The multiplicity of life

is too much for one mind,

 

the moments need peace

to be lit

in our eyes

 

for fires to flame

in our soul.

 

3

 

The heart beats

sky steep

in my chest.

 

Your sun

is constantly

at its peak

through mid-winter days.

 

It even shines

high above

when night falls.

 

 

4

 

And love

in all this wreck?

 

I write the names

on a piece of paper

 

and slip it

to you

 

with pierced heart.

 

 

5

 

Love doesn’t

tarnish.

 

It flows heavy

never-ending,

 

digs a deep bed,

leaps in a high waterfall.

 

Who would want to keep swimming

in calm waters?

 

6

 

In your light I set eyes

on the colours of my love

though never possessing

all that’s wonderful there.

 

Your name alone will do

for the feeding of my ear.

Its music is purer

than all the drums I hear.

 

Your aura is of

wonderful warmth.

But how can I achieve

a part in your karma?

 

 

7

 

Soul’s touch

and the body is forgotten

because it is.

 

Anguish oscillates

between the stars

and flushes in the firmament.

 

Beauty appears

in your eyes.

Where I live.

 

 

8

 

In this sunny summer

fidelity has

bright wings

and wind beneath them.

 

And we fly

with joyous hearts

 

in separate directions.

 

 

9

 

God is three in one.

 

Love is two in one.

 

Man is one.

 

 

10

 

Love

teaches us

to live.

 

Life

teaches us

to love.

 

TRANSLATED BY ANNA MARGRÉT BJÖRNSDÓTTIR

 

THÓR STEFÁNSSON

 

THÓR STEFÁNSSON (born in Reykjavik in 1949) is an Icelandic poet and translator, author of 17 original poetry books and 16 translations, several of which are anthologies of poets from French-speaking countries. He has also translated Icelandic poetry into French. Furthermore, Thór is a director/author of French/Icelandic dictionaries. Thór is the Icelandic translator of ITHACA Poem of the week.


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