Hästen

Gråt inte, lilla hästen min

Det ska bli bra.

Det ska bli bra,

när vi kommer till de lugna lunder.

 

Lilla hästen sova nu.

Lilla hästen vila sig

med ett täcke över sig i den svarta natten.

 

Kära hästen,

vatten finns och mat finns

för en liten häst,

bröd och socker likaså,

innan Ångest stiger över landen.

 

Lilla hästen min,

i kriget skall du aldrig ut,

till Polen blir du aldrig såld.

Där det kan bli krig,

dit blir du aldrig såld.

 

Aldrig i trångt lastrum

under vattenytan

över Östersjön skall du

till de tunga körslor.

Vi stannar här i de öländska lunder.

 

© Viktoria Bengtsdotter Katz, 2022
Hevonen
Translated by Christian Råbergh

 

Älä pikku hevoseni itke.

Kaikki vielä menee hyvin.

Kaikki vielä menee hyvin,

kuin päästään rauhan lehtoihin.

 

Pikku hevonen nukkuu nyt.

Pikku hevonen lepää nyt

peiton alla pimeässä yössä.

Rakas hevonen,

vettä on ja ruokaa

pikkuselle hevoselle,

leipää ja sokeria myös,

ennen kuin Ahdistus nousee maittemme yli.

 

Pikku hevoseni,

et sinä sotaan koskaan joudu,

ei sinua koskaan Puolaan myydä.

Sinne missä sota voi syttyä,

ei sinua sinne koskaan myydä.

 

Et sinä koskaan ahtaaseen lastiruumaan

vedenpinnan alla

Itämeren yli

raskaille ajoille.

Me pysymme täällä Öölannin lehdoissa.

Hesten
Translated by Marte Huke

 

Gråt ikke, lille hesten min.

Det skal bli bra.

Det skal bli bra,

når vi kommer til de rolige lunder.

 

Lille hesten sove nå.

Lille hesten hvile seg

med et teppe over seg i den svarte natten.

 

Kjære hesten,

vann finnes og mat

for en liten hest, brød og sukker likeså,

før Angst stiger over landet.

 

Lille hesten min,

du skal aldri ut i krigen,

du blir aldri solgt til Polen.

Der det kan bli krig,

dit blir du aldri solgt.

 

Aldri skal du i trangt lasterom

under vannflaten

over Østersjøen

til de tunge kjerrelass.

Vi blir her i de ølandske lunder.




  • Country in which the text is set
    Öland, Sweden
  • Featured locations
    Öland
    Polen / Poland
  • Impact
    We hear someone speaking in the poem, a continuous speech in four stanzas, four long breaths. A child is comforting a small horse that is not to be sold to war.
    The poem has its invisible beginning, the cry. But horses don't cry. It is the mumbling and pleading and speaking voice that emerges from the cry, from its own wordlessness. It is the comforter who is comforted. Comforted by the poem itself, by its creation and its participation in the world, by the child becoming an adult. On its way, its flight from the tranquil groves to the island groves - the point where the movement of the poem began: "we will stay here", in Ventlinge village on the island of Öland.
    There is bread and sugar, food for a small horse.
    And the decision, that the horse should not be transported in cramped holds to the slaughterhouses on the European continent's mainland.
    The world is a place of death - and of care. Occasionally it can be paradisiacally green.
  • Balticness
    There is war in the world, we learn in this poem. Or: there is war in Poland, the country on the other side of the Baltic Sea, a war that will spread. There are other countries 'where there may be war'. It is probably 1939, Polish cavalry being crushed by German armor. Anna Rydstedt was eleven years old at the time.
    The child's fear of war, reconstructed after five decades.

    Staffan Söderblom



  • Bibliographic information
    Anna Rydstedt, Genom nålsögat, Stockholm 1989
  • Translations
    Language Year Translator
    Norwegian 2019 Marte Huke
  • Year of first publication
    1989
  • Place of first publication
    Stockholm