Jul 20 2009

It’s raining today

Published by Susanne at 13:20 under Genius

En er en og to er to -
vi hopper i vand,
vi triller i sand.
Zik zak,
vi dryp­per på tag,
tik tak,
det regner idag.
Regn, regn, regn, regn
øsende regn,
pøsende regn,
regn, regn, regn, regn
deilig og vådt
deilig og råt!
En er en og to er to -
vi hopper i vand,
vi triller i sand.
Zik zak,
vi dryp­per på tag,
tik tak,
det regner idag.

I love this poem by Sigbjørn Obst­felder. I tried to find an Eng­lish trans­la­tion but couldn’t – and as much as I’d love to do my own trans­la­tion I fear I don’t have the time whilst at work even if I did have the artistic talent. This poem must be done proper justice and just any old trans­la­tion simply won’t do. So there – I’m sure most of my read­ers speak Nor­we­gian anyhow.

Today is cold and wet. Rain drip­ping from roofs. But I am look­ing out at it all from my place at the desk in the lib­rary. Inside is lovely and warm and there are books, many many books and I have checked out one today already and ordered another four from another lib­rary. Ulysses lies beside me and I’ve picked it up a couple of times today, read a few lines and then had to put it down to helt a patron. Everything is calm and lovely. I lent four Anne-​Cath. Vestly books to a gor­geous little girl and my heart warmed. I’m wear­ing my green woolen jumper and am not even bothered by the fact that I’m able to wear it in July. I’m look­ing for­ward to a lovely walk along Akerselva in the rain after work, maybe get­ting take-​away falafels to eat during the walk, maybe not maybe some coffee to keep warm. In the words of Thorkil:  Det blir (er) en fed sommer i år. Ja, jeg kan mærke det!

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “It’s raining today”

  1. # annaon 25 Jul 2009 at 11:54

    Thanks for this poem and the trans­la­tion – we’re get­ting sim­ilar weather here in Scot­land and this poem reminds me of a Billy Con­nolly saying, “there is no such thing as bad weather, there is just inap­pro­pri­ate clothing!”

    Best Wishes
    Anna

  2. # Susanneon 25 Jul 2009 at 12:15

    I found a trans­la­tion at http://​www.​itsas​mall​world.​co.​nz/​i​n​d​e​x​.​p​h​p​?​p​a​g​e​=​n​orway
    and it goes like this:

    One is one, and two is two
    In water we hop,
    In shingle we drop.
    Zick, zack,
    The thatches we scour,
    Tick, tack,
    Shower upon shower.

    Rain, rain, rain, rain,
    Pat­ter­ing rain,
    Clat­ter­ing rain,
    Rain, rain, rain, rain,
    Goodly its touch,
    Goodly its clutch!

    One is one, and two is two
    In water we hop,
    In shingle we drop.
    Zick, zack,
    The thatches we scour,
    Tick, tack,
    Shower upon shower.

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