Guardian Angel
I am the bird that flutters against your window in the morning,
and your closest friend, whom you can never know,
blossoms that light up for the blind.
I am the glacier shining over the woods, so pale,
and heavy voices from the cathedral tower.
The thought that suddenly hits you in the middle of the day
and makes you feel so fantastically happy.
I am the one you have loved for many years.
I walk beside you all day and look intently at you
and put my mouth against your heart
though you're not aware of it.
I am your third arm, and your second
shadow, the white one
whom you cannot accept,
and who can never forget you.
Moon and Apple
When the apple tree blooms
the moon comes often like a blossom,
paler than any of them
shining over the tree.
It is the ghost of the summer,
the white sister of the blossoms who returns to drop in on us,
and radiate peace with her hands
so that you shouldn't feel too bad when the hard times come.
For the Earth itself is a blossom, she says,
on the star tree,
pale and with luminous
ocean leaves.
Sssh
Sssh the sea says
sssh the small waves at the shore say, sssh
not so violent, not
so haughty, not
so remarkable.
Sssh
say the tips of the waves
crowding around the headland's
surf. Sssh
they say to people
this is our earth
our eternity.
__________________________
Twenty Poems
Rolf Jacobsen
Translated by Robert Bly
Seventies Press 1977
