Friday 12 October 2012

The Danish writer N.F.S. Grundtvig in lyrical mood
















Midsummer Night at Frederiksborg

Cool winds sigh softly in moon’s dimmish light,
flower scent is wafting this midsummer’s night,
the grey castle, lake-bound on Hillerød island,
stands ancient and still, while birds softly trill
in fair groves with nightingales calling.

Cool winds sigh softly in moon’s dimmish light,
flower scent is wafting this midsummer’s night,
the warrior’s last embers in Denmark’s own Tempe*
find long yearned-for rest, with sleep he is blessed
like nightingale fledgling in hedgerow.

Cool winds sigh softly though old age now clings,
autumn’s scent wafts less than summer’s and spring’s,
but greater its power, with corn, blue-eyed flower
a harvest entire of spring’s keen desire
in fair groves with nightingales calling.
                                                                 (1844)

To see the original poem, go to here.

* Tempe - favourite haunt of Apollo and the Muses.
For use of this word by Keats and Shelley, go to here.

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