Gjöf
Ég veit ekki hvort þú hefur,
huga þinn við það fest.
Að fegursta gjöf sem þú gefur,
er gjöfin sem varla sést.
Ástúð í andartaki,
augað sem glaðlegt hlær,
hlýja í handartaki
hjarta sem örar slær.
Allt sem þú hugsar í hljóði
heiminum breytir til.
Gef þú úr sálarsjóði,
sakleysi fegurð og yl.
The Gift
I don´t know if you ever
thought of this simple thing,
that the most precious gift you can give
is the gift you can hardly see.
Love in a moment,
the eyes that laugh with joy,
the warmth of a handshake,
the heart that beats faster.
Your every thought
changes the world.
Give from the treasures of your soul,
innocence, beauty and warmth.
Úlfur Ragnarsson
* My simple translation!
2 comments:
It is simple and unpretentious, and very true. I love it. The line about hearts beating faster is
something we usually wouldn't mention here in the states I really like that part.
I´m glad you like it. It´s a poem quite well known to many people in this country. My dad was/is an M.D. by profession, but has made several beautiful poems, some of whom have had music put to them and become popular. I don´t think though that anyone has made music to this one, at least then I have not heard it yet. Before he was injured in a car accident 8 years ago he used to paint as well. He doesn´t do that at all since that time, but he still makes small poems sometimes.
I only wish I could master the English language better, to be able to make better translations of his poems (f.ex. the rhyme gets lost in my English version of it),and if my vocabulary was more extensive I could do it in a more fluent and polished way. But anyway I tried!
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