H AUGE, Olav H.


Don't give me the whole truth

Don't give me the whole truth,

don't give me the sea for my thirst,

don't give me the sky when I ask for light,

but give me a glint, a dewy wisp, a mote

as the birds bear water-drops from their bathing

and the wind a grain of salt.


It's the Dream

It's the dream we carry in secret
that something miraculous will happen,
that it must happen –
that time will open
that the heart will open
that doors will open
that the rockface will open
that spring will gush –
that the dream will open,
that one morning we will glide into
some little harbour we didn't know was there.

Translated by Robert Fulton

You Are The Wind

I am a boat

without wind.

You were the wind.

Was that the direction I wanted to go?

Who cares about directions

with a wind like that!

Translated by: Robert Bly

Your Way

No-one has marked out the road

you are to take

out in the unknown

out in the blue.

This is your road.

Only you

will take it. And there's no

turning back.

And you haven't marked your road

either.

And the wind smoothes out your tracks

on desolate hills.

Translated by Robin Fulton