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Le Printemps des Poètes : 5th day

Le Printemps des Poètes : 5th day

Calendar from 17/03/2021 to 17/03/2021

On Wednesday 17 March, the 5th day of the "Printemps des Poètes", we share one of the favourite poems of the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Bjørn Berge.

 

A FREED CHANNEL

A freed channel

opened out in the frozen heart.

The ice melted at a warm word

and the water lay still and black

with new breath.

 

Overhead the wires sang

in a daring tension

between unlike minds,

a wide arc

in the pale blue.

 

All sorts of cold fish

darted to and fro

and stared.

But the still black water waited

impatiently,

and the first boat also appeared

as if from itself,

its painting peeling from the sides

after the winter,

and the water and the boat spoke quietly

together

about life's blissful moments.

 

Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970), Translated by Anthony Barnett.