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Sundið var mjög þraungt, og ef tveir menn ötluðu þessa leið saman urðu þeir að ganga í halarófu. Við enda einstigisins birtist bakhliðin á rauðmáluðu tréhúsi og hafði tvo glugga og eldhúsdyr með bíslagi. Þetta er gluggi Erlendar. Upp þetta dimma sund: þar lá mín leið margt liðið kvöld; og sæi ég ljós, þá var sem vanda og neyð væri nú lyft af heilli öld. Hér beið mín eftir amstur dags og önn — eða utanför — sú fylling vona er fæstum verður sönn, að fá af vini örugg svör, svo létti vafa og öllum ugg af þér sem att þar hlé: hver þögn fær óm; hvert orð ber epli í sér. Ymur hið forna saungna tré. Þar drífa guðir og gamlir prestar inn og gyðjur lands, afbrotamenn og börn fá bolla sinn af besta vini sérhvers manns. Og Steinar Steinn sem ljóðin las mér fyr án lífsfögnuðs, kom handkaldur upp sundið, drap á dyr og drakk úr kaffibolla Guðs. Ó mildu vitru augu, augna hnoss, umliðna stund þess ljóss er brann, sjá ennþá lýsirðu oss upp þetta dimma sund.
J. Viðar sets lines 1-7
Note (provided by Dr. Kristín Jónína Taylor): the first seven lines were selected by the composer, with some omissions, from the prose text. The remainder is a poem in the storyline and is replicated in its entirety.
Authorship:
- by Halldór Kiljan Laxness (1902 - 1998), appears in Sjömeistarasögu, first published 1978, copyright © by Guðný Halldórsdóttir, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Jórunn Viðar (1918 - 2017), "Glugginn", 1993, published 1993, lines 1-7 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Dr. Kristín Jónína Taylor) , "The window", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Dr. Kristín Jónína Taylor
This text was added to the website: 2021-03-28
Line count: 31
Word count: 180
The alley was very narrow, and if two men want to go together this way they would have to walk in a single file. At the end of the single lane reveals the rear of the red-painted wooden house which had two windows and a kitchen door with a room addition. This is Erlendur’s window. Up this dark alley: there lay my path many past evenings; and if I saw light, it was as if problems and suffering of a whole century had been lifted. Here awaited me after troubled days and work — or a journey abroad — fulfillment of hope that most people will not experience, to receive from a friend a secure answer, It removed all doubt and fear from you That had paused in your mind: Every silence gets a sound; every word bears fruit (epli) in it. Which comes from an ancient tree sound. There gods and old priests drift in and the goddesses of the lands, criminals and children get their cup of the best friend of each man. And Steinn Steinar [the poet] read me his poems in a lifeless manner, came with freezing hands up the alley, knocked on the door, and drank from God’s coffee cup. Oh mild wise eyes, eyes of a horse, about a past moment this light that burned, it still lights for us up this darkened alley.
Authorship:
- Translation from Icelandic (Íslenska) to English copyright © by Dr. Kristín Jónína Taylor, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in Icelandic (Íslenska) by Halldór Kiljan Laxness (1902 - 1998), appears in Sjömeistarasögu, first published 1978, copyright © by Guðný Halldórsdóttir, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
This text was added to the website: 2021-03-28
Line count: 31
Word count: 230