The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1956, Blaðsíða 45

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
43

The cover verse is a selection from
the many popular -lyric poems of
Steingrimur Thorsteinsson, (1831-1913)
one of the later nineteenth century
men of letters of Iceland. This little
gem has been set to music by more
than one of Iceland’s composers. The
song usually selected is the one by the
late Sigvaldi S. Kaldalons, one of Ice-
land’s leading composers. It is equally
a favorite among Icelandic people on
both sides of the Atlantic. Incidentally,
one of the ambitions of The Icelandic
Canadian is to be able to publish some
of the beautiful music to which Ice-
landic poems have been set together
with the original poems and trans-
lations into English.
SWANSONG ON THE
MOORLANDS
Alone, upon a summer’s eve,
I rode the dreary moorlands.
No more the way seemed bleak and
long
For sudden strains of lovely song
Were borne across the moorlands.
The mountains glowed with rosy light.
—From far across the moorlands
And like a sacred interlude
It fell upon my solitude,
That song upon the moorlands.
It thrilled my soul with sweet response,
That song upon the moorlands.
As in a dream I rode ahead—
And knew not how the moments fled,
With swans upon the moorlands.
The translation of the poem selected
this time is iby Jakobina Johnson and
is one in which she has succeeded
especially well in translating not only
the words and train of thought but
the spirit of the poem, the feeling
of calm comfort which the song of
the swans gave to the author as he
passed over the barren waste.
It is sometimes said, and not without
reason, that it is impossible to translate
the soul of a poem. But in this instance
we venture the opinion that for
smoothly flowing lines of lyric poetry
expressing the inmost thoughts of the
poet the translation is equal to the
original. The two follow and it is left
to the reader to decide for himself.
SVANASoNGUR
A HEIDI
Eg reiff um sumaraftan einn
a eyffilegri heiffi;
J>a styttist leiffin long og strong,
Jrvi ljufan heyrffi’ eg svanasong,
ja, svanasong a heiffi.
A fjollum roffi fagur skein,
og fjasr og naer ur geimi
aS eyrum bar sem englahjom,
i einverunnar helgidom,
Jrann svanasong a heiffi.
Svo unduiiblitt eg aldrei hef
af omi tofrazt neinum;
l vokudraum eg veg minn re iff
og vissi’ ei, hvernig timinn leiff
viff svanasong a heiffi.