Short Poems

Gaven her er nydelig,
Ikke ubetydelig.
Blomster-Vase meget net!
Uden mindste Skaar og Plet!
Den har kostet, kan Du troe;
Kjøb een til, saa har Du to!

Med Blomster staaer hun fra Fod til Top;
Hun er saa sød, hun kan spises op.

Naar Du med dette Dig befugter,
O — hvor Du lugter!

Til Melodi gik Livs-Disharmonien,
Hver blodig Taare til en Perle blev;
Ved ham var slig en Kraft i Poesien.
Bær Livets Dissonants — som han den skrev!

Min Lussing skal jeg give,
Som dansk Matros!
Og skulde i Kampen jeg blive,
Er Gud min Lods!

Among the mountains I wandered and saw blue haze and red crag and was amazed;
On the beach where the long push under the endless tide maneuvers, I stood silent;
Under the stars on the prairie watching the Dipper slant over the horizon’s grass, I was full of thoughts.
Great men, pageants of war and labor, soldiers and workers, mothers lifting their children—these all I touched, and felt the solemn thrill of them.

When May is painting with her colours gay
The landscape sketched by April her sweet twin...

If John marries Mary, and Mary alone,
'Tis a very good match between Mary and John.
Should John wed a score, oh, the claws and the scratches!
It can't be a match :-- 'tis a bundle of matches.

Eros, what mean'st thou by this? In each of thine hands is an hourglass!

What, oh thou frivolous god! twofold thy measure of time?
"Slowly run from the one, the hours of lovers when parted;

While through the other they rush swiftly, as soon as they meet."

She belongs to the tribe of Ego
This ruthless girl
And lives way beyond
The bounds of your territory.

[Translated by Rukhsana Ahmad]