The water vole
When rowan
produces big clusters
we expect a cold winter
When clouds of unrest
are seen at the horizon
we expect hard times
When children
are terrified in the evening
the real face of our time is seen
–
Now the berries are ripe
and through the storm
the sound of boots
over memory’s tombstones are heard
while backs are bent
waiting for hits from rifle butts
by men in black
A wine press
is set up for the wine trodder from Edom
–
Expecting the winter
the water vole collects food
a big heap
preparing for the hunger
it’s simple wisdom points out for the future
while Man still is sleeping a final year
until the Golden calf and the Colossus
walk southward to slaughter
through beautiful towns
burned
but guarded by the eyes of death
below the surface of the sea
while the mantle of the wine trodder
is coloured red by sprinklings
when the hands of hate
are crushed
–
Then the old stars have fallen
from high positions
Then the sun of the west has lost
its obvious shine
and the moon
has banged its horns bloody
in the quest of power
The wine trodder’s vessel is overflowing
and surprised
Man awakes
–
The rowan berries cores that fell to the ground
germinate and grow into a forest
The wine that was trodden
ripens in a new vessel
The children that were terrified
have forgotten their tears
and the clouds of unrest
have passed
and the babies of the water vole
are playing at the edge of the field
–
Then messengers are sent
from country to country
to show a new spring awaiting humanity
There is a just law
governing the world
and the wind that makes waves in the growing fields
brings laughter
and fragments of words
in a language everybody understands
–
Then
it is said
he was young
when he died at an age of eighty
and the wolf
and the lion
link arms
with the sheep
Some words about the poem
A wrote the poem ”Vattensorken” /”The water vole” when the war in the Balkan area was at its peak. It felt like the insane violence would never end. The poem hints at similar hard times in Europe not very far in the past, I am thinking of Hitler’s and Stalin’s terror. The reader also probably recognizes that I use references to the time of the end in the Bible. The references to the Sun and the Moon shouldn’t be too difficult to understand.
Prophesies regarding ”the time of the end” tend to be taken very literally with stars falling from the sky destroying everything around us. The poem shows another possibly slightly surprising way of reading these texts based on a bahai point of view. Is it possible that perhaps ”the time of the end” already arrived, and passed, but humanity was so blind and blinded by its small every day’s problems that nobody noticed?
The picture is taken from ”pudlarpelargoner.blogspot.com”.
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