Hatrack River Forum: A picket don't last forever

This is topic A picket don't last forever in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=056625

Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :

Once again I try my hand at translating Norwegian poetry. You can hear this one sung, if you like.

By the treeline there's a picket, moss-grown and grey.
It is a ruin, posts akimbo,
but still it stands to mark its place.
Once this was a vital barrier,
protecting crops from tread of kine.

A picket don't last forever, y'know.
It won't stand forever.

An ancient picket, that stands in witness to a time that's gone
it is a story of old greatness,
man against nature - a battle past.
Other fronts now see fighting,
but pickets we have with us still.

A picket don't last forever, y'know.
It won't stand forever.

What is a picket? A picket can be many things:
A row of sticks that form a fence,
or a fenced-in part of your own mind.
An old prejudgment, "for coloreds only",
hate or envy, an eye turned blind.

A picket don't last forever, y'know.
It won't stand forever.

Turn where you like: There's a picket 'twixt then and now.
A picket is a border,
a picket is a barrier for the few.
A hating heart, a class division,
a jealous mind, a long-past war.

A picket don't last forever, y'know.
It won't stand forever.

Where is your picket? Oh yes, you have one;
no man can do without.
A thing you would keep distant;
a secret your neighbours must not see.
But your barrier needn't stand.
A picket can be climbed by those who will.

A picket don't last forever, y'know.
It won't stand forever.

Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :

That's beautiful. Thanks for translating it.
(Edit: This is Glenn, using Raymond's computer)

Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :

Very well done.

Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :

Something there is that doesn't love a picket, that wants it down!

Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick:
Very well done.

Thank you. [Smile]

The refrain has become an idiom in Norway; "Ein skigard kan'kje vara evigt, veit du." I posted this in an AAR the other year, referring to a line of fortifications that had been breached, and thinking I was being vastly obscure. Instantly another Norwegian responded "kan aaaaaaldri vara evig."