Sunday, June 21, 2009

Swedish Poetry - Javisst gör det ont...


At Splitcoast, they had two wonderful challenges this week. The Ways To Use It Challenge was about to use text in the design, and the Limited Supplies Challenge wanted us to use text in a foreign language. I was long time thinking about which language to use - I decided to use neither English (though it is of course a foreign language to me) nor German (though this would be a foreign language to most of you).
So I decided to us a Swedish poem by Karin Boye for my text element. For those who are interested in the poem, here's the text and its translation:

Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister.
Varför skulle annars våren tveka?
Varför skulle all vår heta längtan
bindas i det frusna bitterbleka?
Höljet var ju knoppen hela vintern.
Vad är det för nytt, som tär och spränger?
Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister,
ont för det som växer
och det som stänger.

Of course it hurts when buds burst.
Otherwise why would spring hesitate?
Why would all our fervent longing
be bound in the frozen bitter haze?
The bud was the casing all winter.
What is this new thing, which consumes and bursts?
Of course it hurts when buds burst,
pain for that which grows
and for that which envelops.

I like this poem - what do you think about it?

I stamped the text (HeinDesign) with Versamark onto violet cardstock and embossed it with white powder. Then I stamped the rose (Stampin'Up) with versamark onto white cardstock, embossed it with violet powder and colored the rose with Stargazers Palette metallic watercolors.

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