Stagnelius Näcken & Naturens Son på engelska

Bilden: Strömkarlen av Carl Larsson 1878


The Neck (E.J. Stagnelius)

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Golden clouds of the eve encircles the firmament
All the fairies of the meadows now dance,
and the Neck is crowned with leaves
his fiddle plays in the silvery creek

A small lad among the willows of the shore
in the mist of the violin repose,
the sound he hears from the water of the well,
then into the silent night he yells:

"Poor old man! Why do you play?
Might it dispense you of your pains?
Freely the woods and fields you may animate,
but never alas God's child remain!

The moonlit nights of paradise,
Eden's plains are crowned with flowers,
the angels of light up on high -
never you shall see with thine own eye."

Tears now wash the old man's face
down he dives into his waves
Silent now is the fiddle. The Neck leaves
never to play again in the silvery creek

Erik Johan Stagnelius 1821

L Patrik WJ english version 15/01/11

Wikisource:

Näcken

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Bilden: Erik Johan Stagnelius 1793-1823


Nature's Son (E.J. Stagnelius)

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Blest are he, who in the same abode,
Where he resteth upon the cradle's bed,
The eventide of his life may dwell upon,
Content with the hours, which has fled!
The one who's desire for gold never was placed
Into the agony of a shackle ignominious
And all the glory's lustre and splendour of happiness
Not carried away from his lower cabin thus!

His heart it feels no indignation,
Not criminally upon Providence complains,
There by the motherly bosom of Nature
He prattles away his youthful days
As Man the innocence of the child he has,
And, clear and cheerful, the spring of youth
Within the old man's heart still remains
As winter to silver colours the hair's roots

With the butterfly, whirling and fair,
With the nightingales in the park that resounds,
With the roses upon the thornbush of briar
And the silvery lilies all over the grounds
He then merrily jests, and poison naught
The chalice crowned with flowers conceals,
As, led by the fine running of the heart,
He from Nature's hands then empties

His Eden thus lost never was
By the creeks murmurs and birds singing
In Heavenly innocence there he wanders,
Beshadowed by the green trees hinging
He from the tree of knowledge not yet
With bold hands the fruit has broken
And the Creator from his sight
The pious child has not forsaken

By the stars that shine, by the course of the day
With God his soul in confidence speaks
Upon the peaks of wooded rocks may,
In the summer's valleys of flowers tranquility,
And angels by his side are walking
On the mountains, in the woods and plains around,
And angels around his camp are standing
On guard in nights when the stars are besown

When the warrior defies the threat of thunder
And bloody o'er the field of corpses rush,
In full length he by the oaktree's root slumbers
Safe and at ease upon the spreading flowers
When in the late and the dark fall's eve
Against the storm and waves the sailor are struggling,
In his humble abode he leisurely dreams
By the light which his lamp are spreading

Thus happily there he abides the hour
When the bells of death for him will call
To the covenant of the Spirits holy
And the worn fetters of the body shall fall
How happy out of his larvashape transgress
Beautified from the gravel up he's soaring
To the rich heritage of blessedness,
To the imperishable light everlasting

Erik Johan Stagnelius 1818

L Patrik WJ english version 16-18/01/11


Wikisource:

Naturens Son

~*~

Be well,
L.Patrik W.Johansson
aka LordParzifal

(texterna finns i e-böckerna till höger i listan eller på min poeter.se sida)

http://www.poeter.se/LordParzifal