Gunnar Björling: Tre dikter / Three Poems / Kolme runoa

Translations into English by Fredrik Hertzberg and into Finnish by Leevi Lehto

I den värld värld och i dig i ditt rums värld jag och på gatan en rådvill En jord och skall skänka sitt anlet	In that world world and in you in your room's world I on the street at a loss An earth and shall lower down its face
Siinä maailmassa maailma ja sinussa huoneesi maailmassa minä ja kadulla neuvotonna on On maa ja laskeva kasvonsa From Att i sitt öga, 1954

Att i ögon doft och svalka endast och att som - och som du att - är	That in eyes scent and coolness only and that like - and like you that - is
Että silmissä tuoksu ja viileys vainen ja että kuin - ja kuin sinä että - on From Ett blyertsstreck, 1951

Där vinkar en blomma, där vinkar och lockar ett doft mot mit öga. Där blinkar ett doft. Jag vill stiga till himlarnas bärg, jag vill sjunka i vågen: en dal. Jag är sjungande ton, och i gåta ler dagen.		There waves a flower, there waves and lures an scent at my eye. There twinkles a hope. I will rise to the mountains of heaven, I will sink in the wave: a dale. I am singing tone, and in riddle smiles the day.
Ja kutsuva kukka, ja kutsuva houkutus tuoksu silmääni vasten. Ja vilkkuva tuoksu. Ja nouseva taivaiden vuorille, olen, vaipuva aallossa: laakso. Olen laulava sävel. Ja arvoitus hymyillä päivän. From Vilande dag, 1922

Note to the Finnish Translations

Finnish not having articles, there seems to be no easy way to render the slightly deviant "en rådvill" and "En jord" in the first poem. I've chosen to use the third person singular of the Finnish verb for "to be", "olla": "on". After all, it's quite near, "materially", to the original (en/on), and, semantically, seems to convey the same sense of "(something) being there".

The second poem doesn't seem to pose any specific problems - the only twist in my version is the archaic/poetic "vainen" for the third line, "endast", "only"; it seemed rhythmically better than either the monosyllabic, colloquial "vain", or the slightly more poetic "ainoastaan" (ai-no-as-taan). "Vainen" also contains "vain en", ("Still, I don't..."), thus serving as an example of "found in translation". To me, it also easily reads as a slightly absurd, meaningless adjective.

In the third poem, the original's strong trochaic beat would be lost with "siellä" for "där", "there". I've chosen "ja", Finnish for "and", in stead. In this context, it functions paratactically as a kind of pointing: "there... and there..." Changing into the passive-adverbial verb forms ("kutsuva", "waving"; "vilkkuva", "blinking") also helps to retain the rhythm. The toughest part in this one proved to be "i gåta", "in riddle", in the final sentence. All uses of the obvious "arvoituksessa" I could think of would have totally ruined the rhythm pattern. My solution, "Arvoitus hymyillä päivän", reads literally "A riddle for the day to smile (in? to?)" (or, even, "A riddle to smile (to?) for a day"). At least, it's a riddle. I trust Björling wouldn't have minded.

I am grateful to Fredrik Hertzberg for his analyses in Moving Materialities. On Poetic Materiality and Translation, with Special Reference to Gunnar Björling's Poery (Åbo Akademi University, Saarijärvi 2002). Fred's translations are from that book.

Leevi Lehto