Short Poems

Natten lang
Dands og Sang
Til Musik og Bægerklang!"
Det for Dig er Livets Gang.

Naar Vaaren rider Sommer i By,
Faaer Du en Hat af Silke — eller Bly!

Naar Skoven bliver grøn,
Opfyldes dit Hjertes Bøn.

Naar Hyacinthens fine Klokker klinge,
Og Alfen om sin Slægt fortæller der,
Jeg husker Dig — og Tanken paa sin Vinge
Staaer ved St. Goars kjendte Morbærtræer.

Nature's a Sphinx. And her ordeal
Is all the more destructive to mankind
Because, perhaps, she has no riddle.
Nor did she ever have one.

Either tortoises live long lives because they don’t hurry

or they don’t hurry because they live long lives.

Napping at midday
I hear the song of rice planters
and feel ashamed of myself.


Translated by Robert Hass

Napped half the day;
no one
punished me!


Translated by Robert Hass

Vaager jeg — er det mit jordiske Liv;
Drømmer jeg — er det min Vellyst ublandet;
Døer jeg — hvad er det da? — Skaberens andet
Atter af Intet mig kaldende Bliv.

Who can contain his joy, say, on seeing the lotus-like lovely face of Nanda's darling child when he awakes?

His beauty infatuates sages,and destroys the pride of Kama, it captivates the hearts of hundreds of young girls. When he softly smiles the gleam of his teeth seems as though rubies have been stringed with pearls.

When my Lord, Nanda's lovely child goes out, says Suradasa, the people of Braj are bewitched by his loveliness.