Magic of fjords

1

The winter night came silently on snowy paws.

Winter after winter, chill night after night.

The glaciers wrapped their polar bear skins round the mountain tops.

The spring sun coaxed drops of water from the ice.

Drop found drop. Stream found stream.

Ripped and tore, rushed and gushed.

Gouged and ground away the rock and earth.

Shaped the deep valley.

And - the mirroring, emerald fjord.

Helge Torvund

2

No matter where I turn my eyes,

great mountains over each other rise,

flank to shoulder on they soar,

to heaven’s rim and all between.

We wait to hear tumultuous roar:

silence adds grandeur to the scene.

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910)

3

Aurlandsfjorden and Nærøyfjorden

4

I lay a gentle armaround a cloud

stroke the moon’s shining crown

5

and feel the evening in ourquickened sinews.

Helge Torvund

Preikestolen/The Pulpit Rock, Lysefjorden

6

Do not believeI am a man of humble

means!The sky has always lain

open over me.

I lived my wordswith the Southern Star as neighbour

and the wind as my companion. I knowthe low-lying paths of ants

through wisps of straw on the ground,but also yearning’s royal road of lightwhere God’s footprints stand traced out

in the stardust.

I am a man. I haveknown greatness in the stateof being so infinitely small.

Hans Børli (1918-1989)

The Kjerag Boulder/Kjeragbolten, Lysefjorden

7

8

In the east sits the glacier on its ice-green thronegleaming so proudly over the world.

9

But now all simmers and rushes and seethes in the sun,till the torrent pours headlong into the fjord.

Vilhelm Krag (1871-1923)

Geirangerfjorden with waterfalls The Friar, The Bridal Veil and The Seven Sisters

10

Life can be so long, now and then

lasting all of months on end

broken by tall grass,

deep-flowing rivers

and kisses

that last no longer than an apple takes

to drop

in that fleeting second between summer and fall.

Terje Johanssen (1942-2005)

11

The glacier Bøyabreen

12

Trollstigen/The Troll Ladder mountain road

13

the mountain unfolds

that slow-blooming flower

that someone, but never you

will see wither

and fall to dust over

the blue vase’s lip

Lars Saabye Christensen

14

Rain always comes from clouds,clouds from mist

and mist from moisture in the ground.

Carl von Linné (1707-1778)

15

Rain showers over Fjærlandsfjorden

16

This home is so dearto me best in the world.My heart holds it near,

this magical fjord,

17

and the crags that delightand the clear evening light,

my soul yearning dwells on them:Oh how I remember, remember this home!

Elias Blix (1836-1902)

Kjeåsen, Hardanger

18

Trolltunga/The Troll’s Tongue, Odda

19

The invitation

Will you give me your hand in the moonlight,

you are leaves -Under open sky. Over the yawning precipice.

Like leaves,

you and I.

Trembling in the breeze

and soon gone.

Come -

Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970)

This was a few pages from the bookBuy the book: www.naturkultur.no

This was a few pages from the bookBuy the book: www.naturkultur.no