Page 45 - September 2020

LITTERATEUR

We Are Here

I got lost in a strange part of town.
All streets ran steeply upward, quick-footed people
ran by me dressed in light-coloured clothes
and looking as though they were carrying light things in
their bags.
I stopped someone for directions
and immediately I stood in the middle of a clump

of friendly faces. - Where do you want to go?
I began explaining. They listened,
Niels Hav they were hearing a dead dialect.
smiling, as if for the first time

Then they began speaking one on top of another
and pointing in all directions.
I pulled out my map. Eagerly it was opened
and studied with interest. - Where are we?
I asked with a finger on the map.
They looked at me and as a chorus repeated my
question.
Then they all broke into hearty laughter,
I laughed too, we were witnessing high
comedy. – Here, said one of them and pointed

to the ground where we stood. – We are here!

The poem is translated by P.K. Brask & Patrick Friesen

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