Lögberg-Heimskringla - 18.09.1975, Page 2

LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 18. SEPTEMBER 1975
PAUL BJARNASON,
A POET IK THE GRAND TRADITION
The late Paul Bjarnason was a man of independent
mind with little taste for the beaten path. He took a broad
view of the world’s established order and sensed its flaws
with a poet’s insight. He was a radical in the grand tradi-
tion, who expressed himself strongly, lyrically and in
picturesque language.
He was also a poet in the grand old tradition. No free
verse for him. He had a way with rbyme and alliteration,
which today is almost an abandoned art, even in Iceland.
Yet his verse flowed free and unfettered, following the
stringent rules like a natural path.
Much of his best work is now a hidden treasure to
many Icelandic Canadians, because it. was written in the
Tcelandic language, and he felt this keenly, not with regard
to his own work but rather to that of his contemporaries on
the North American continent, who like himself, expressed
their thoughts and feelings in a common ancestral tongue.
He published two volumes of verse in English, “Odes and
Eehoes” in 1954 and “More Echoes” in 1962. The latter con-
tains many verse translations from the Icelandic. A poet.
of stature, Paul Biarnason was well aware that the essence
of great poetry is not easily captured. Words have subtle
shades of meaning, and a sensitive poet, ön intimate terms
wit'h the muse, knows that it takes long, dedicated wooing
before they will carry a living spirit from one language to
another. Paul Biarnason expressed the hope that his trans-
lations might throw “one gleam of Icelandic poesy beyond
its present narrow confines.”
He translated Guttormur J. Guttormsson’s famous poem
“Sandv Bar,” and Dr. Hillgrimur Helgason has composed a
cantata based on this poem. A concert by the Winnipeg
Symphony Orchestra and the Phiiharmonic Choir will
feature the world premiere of the cantata in the Manitoba
Centennial Hall on Sunday afternoon, October 12. It*is the
“Centennial Cantata.” commissioned by the Canada Iceland
Centennial Conference Committee to commemorate the
TOOth anniversarv of the arrival of the first group of people
from Iceland in Manitoba in October 1875, and the presenta-
tion promises a dramatic culmination to the conference.
Paul Bjamason’s translation of “Sandy Bar” appears on
this page.
It’s not surprising to find Paul Bjamason- among the
ardent admirers of Stephan G. Stephanson’s poetry, and
when a small group of Icelanders in North America joined
forces to finance the publication of the first three volumes
of Stephan’s poetry early in the century, he was quick to
respond. He was the youngest in that league and likely the
least endowed with financial resources. He has translated
seven of Stephanson’s poems into English,
Paul Biamason was bom at Mountain, North Dakota,
on March 27. 1882. the son of Biami Bjarnason and Gróa
Jónsdóttir, who came to Visconsin in 1873. Paul completed
high school at Mountain and in Grand Forks, N.D., worked
on farms as a youth and later taught school for a few years
until he moved to Canada and acquired land near Wynyard,
Sask. He soon abandoned farming and moved to the town
of Wynyard, where he operated real estate and automobile
agencies. The first automobile to enter Iceland was shipped
tihere by him in 1913. a pioneering feat which was recog-
nized in 1958, when a society of automobile owners in Ice-
land invited him to visit the country.
%
During World War One. Paul became editor of the
weeklv newspaper, Wynyard Advance, while his brother.
Bogi Bjamason, editor and owner of the paper, served in
the Canadian Army. Bogi was a gifted editor and writer,
whose newspaner pieces yained recognition and were widely
reorinted in other æeeklies and in city dailies in Saskatche-
wan and Manitoba.
After moving to Vancouver with his wife, Guðrún
Halldóra, Paul took to caroentry and house-painting, while
the production of fine poetry and prose continued to be his
way of life until he died in Vancouver in February, 1967.
--C.G.
SANDYBAR
by GUTTORMUR J. GUTTORMSSON Translated by PAUL BJARNASON
Long I strolled, though late the hour.
Lightnings set the skies aglower,
While a drenching summer shower
Swiftly filled each step ajar.
Through the aspen arbors gleaming
On I sauntered, vaguely dreaming,
’Till I came upon a quiet
Camping ground at Sandy Bar;
Where the pioneers, in passing,
Pitched their tents at Sandy Bar.
Silence reigned. All signs have faded'
Since the early fathers waded
Through the leagues of lakes that made it
Like an ocean near and far.
Death, that in their dreams abided,
Darkly o’cr the floods presided,
Casting ’neath his falcon feathers
Fateful gloom on Sandy Bar,—
From his wings, so broad, a baleful
Black-out over Sandy Bar.
Sturdy fathers, fey and ailing,
Feared the Summoning Angel’s bailing
Ere they coitld be set for sailing
Safely to life’s Port afar.
Sick for weeks on shiþs a-tossing
Souls were not prepared for crossing.
Standing face to face with terror
Few could rest at Sandy Bar.
Pressed for time, on pins and needles *
People walked at Sandy Bar.
AU their tragic toil and scourging
To my heart like pain came surging;
For the old remains emerging
Marred the foreground like a scar.
As I looked the lightning flashes
Lit the scattered heaps and ashes,
Where exhaiisted men and mothers
Mutely rest at Sandy Bar;
Where the immigrants so gamely
Gave their all at Sandy Bar.
Those who came to seek and settle
Showed their earnest will and mettle,
Well content to wage a battle
With conditions under par,
Since the hour of immigration
All their mass-determination
Was to make their-way to freedom,
Westward bound from Sandy Bar;
Blaze a trail through bog and jungle
Branching out from Sandy Bar.
Thoughts.of old within me straining
On my heart their darts were training,
As if.cosmic eyes were raining
All the tears of pain there are.
Shafts of lightning, like a token,
Left the highest trees all broken,
As if spirit hopes were hewing
Highways out of Sandy Bar,
Hewing lanes to life and glory
Leáding out from Sandy Bar.
Thus the bFaves who fell a-fighting
From their graves the path are lighting,
All the willing ones uniting
With their long-abandoned car.
Every hope shall earn fruition
In each mind that has ambition
To take up the uncompleted
Exodus from Sandy Bar,
To pursue the ever-onward
Aims that grew at Sandy Bar.
He who makes new paths, and passes,
Plants ambition with the masses,
Bringing forth, like frosted grasses,
From the soil an avatar.
Though some active urge decreases
In each living thing that freezes,
In my fancy ice encrusted
All the grass at Sandy Bar.
Plants still green with frozen fragrance
Filled the air at Sandy Bar.
Shining spectral shades, I doubt me,
Sent a stream of warmth.throughout me.
Phantom gleams on graves about me
Glittered faintly like a star.
All the brawn that blessed the sleeping
Buried now the earth is keeping,
Where it lies forever idle
In the ground at Sandy Bar.
All that death could overpower
Is interred at Sandy Bar.
As the beating rain abated,
Breezes kind, so long awaited,
Growding on the clouds so freighted
Cleared the sky for every star.
Routéd packs with fury flashing
Farther to the north were dashing,
Till a riftless reach of heaven
Rested over Sandy Bar.
Heaven, where the leaders landed,
Looked with peace on Sandy Bar.
Spjallað við Magna
Framhald af blaðsíðu 5
flestum vesthrænum löndum
um/ næga atvinnu handa öll-
um þegnum. Það er merkur
áfangi — og meira að segja
framkvæmanlegur. Breskur
stjórnmálamaður sagði að 20
ölddin mundi í sögunni
verða kölluð „atvinnuöldin”.
En eitt virðist hafa gleymst:
t>ó að ríkið geti tryggt öllum
þegnum atvinnu, getur það
ekki tryggt þeim atvinnu á
hvaða kaupi sem er. — Ef
heimtað er meira en fram-
leitt er verður aðeins unnt
að greiða með þynntum
gjaldmiðli þ. e. verðbólgu-
aurum. Þarna liggur hund-
urinn grafinn.
Eg tek sérstaklega fram að
orðum mínum er ekki beint
til verkamanna, sem víðast
bera minna úr býtum en eðli
Iegt er.
— Hvað finnst þér um
framvinduna hér heima? —
„Meginvandi íslendinga
frá stofnun lýðveldisins er
verðbólga. En sá hatrammi
misskilningur er enn við lýði
að sá vandi verði leystur
með gengislækkun. Gengis-
lækkun hefu raldrei í verald
arsögunni læknað verðbólgu,
heldur -þvert á móti kynnt
undir henni. Með henni er
unnt fyrir land mieð opið hag
kerfi að kaupa útflutningsat-
vinnuvegum frið umstundar-
sakir ,en hún hreyfir ekki
við kjarna málsins. Og frið-
urinn er raunar dýrkeyptur,
því að gengislækkun ér
beinn skattur og annað
ekki á eina stétt í landinu —
þá stétt, sem síst skyldi, fólk
ið, sem sparar, leggur fé sitt
á vöxt í lánastofnanir og
gerir framkvæmdir möguleg
ar. Hvemig fær það þjóðfé-
lag staðist til langframa, sem
æ ofan í æ refsar hinum ráð
deildsömu og verðlaunar
sku 1 d arþr j ótana ?
y„Að minni h’yggju vita hér
lendir hagfræðingar, hvað
gera skal. Vandamálið er
hinsvegar pólitískt.”
Eg sé að Magni er farinn
að ókyrrast enda tíminn .
naumur og þess vegna að lok
um:
— Hvað um framtíðina
hiá bér sjálfum?
„Eg vænti þess að vera hér
um næstu jól, ef guð lofar,
og þá getum við' spjallað um
hana.” b.
Icelandic Centennial Children's Choir
Old and new members of the Icelandic Centennial Childr-
en’s Choir are asked to gather for rehearsal in First Luther-
an Church, 580 Victor St., Tuesday Sept. 23rd at 6.30 p.m
ELMA GÍSLASON, Choir Director