Freeday 10 May 2002

Pic of the day: The road goes through spring again. For some, at least.

The road you should have chosen

I've been playing again the first CD - or was it the second? - that I bought. I think it was the first. It was largely because of this CD that I bought my first CD player (I held out quite long for a gadget lover, actually). The other CD was Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, which I bought pretty much exclusively for the track Why worry. The lyrics there are rather irrelevant, but the track has a history with me. Anyway, enough of Dire Straits for today. This CD I play now is all in Norwegian, it is by Finn Kalvik and is named "Livets lyse side" - The bright side of life. No relation at all to a certain song by, I think, Monty Python or something equally apalling.

I feel this guy is just not getting enough recognition, probably because he has written a lot of fluff. But sometimes he is quite deep, whether by accident or design I know not. Probably not entirely by accident, but sometimes he just succeeds better. Or it may be that I am reading stuff into it. Remember what I said about poetry - people interpret it rather than understand it.

That said, I'll try to quote some of it and an English translation. I would not be able to translate it into a song in English even at the best of times, but I can translate it easily into prose. Enjoy, or something.

***

Det hender ofte at jeg savner deg
og tida da du var harmonisk og glad.
Jeg så du lengta deg lang bort herfra,
og bak ditt smil så jeg vemod og tvil.
Var det fordi du var motløs og lei av alt?
Eller var det fordi du så ... veien du skulle valgt?

It often happens that I miss you
and the time when you were harmonic and happy.
I saw you longed to get far away from here,
and behind your smile I saw sadness and doubt.
Was it because you were discouraged and fed up with everything?
Or was it because you saw ... the road you should have chosen?

På Lågens grønne flate svevde du
ut fra land i din båt gang på gang.
Du rodde mot havet når fullmånen hang
blek og kald på himlens portal.
Var det fordi du var motløs og lei av alt?
Eller var det fordi du så ... veien du skulle valgt?

On the green surface of the large river you hovered
out from the land in your boat again and again.
You rowed toward the ocean when the full moon hang
pale and cold on the sky's portal.
Was it because you were discouraged and fed up with everything?
Or was it because you saw ... the road you should have chosen?

En evig strøm av minner fyller meg
mens tida går, og våre dager blir år.
Du delte min glede men aldri min sorg.
Nei, lille meg slapp aldri gjennom til deg.
Var det fordi du var motløs og lei av alt?
Eller var det fordi du så ... veien du skulle valgt?

An eternal current of memories fill me
while time passes, and our days become years.
You shared my happiness but never my sorrow.
No, little me never got through to you.
Was it because you were discouraged and fed up with everything?
Or was it because you saw ... the road you should have chosen?

***

I don't know what happened to his friend, if indeed the song is based on a real person. But it sure doesn't sound like a happy ending. And yet, the song bears no accusation, or even grief. Just quiet contemplation. The possibility that things are not what they seem. That people may do what they feel is right, even when others think otherwise.

It should go without saying, but I'm not discouraged and fed up with everything. Disillusioned, yes. But that is good. Illusions are bad. Courage is good. Courage goes along with truth, foolhardiness with illusions. Truth is good, even though it sometimes hurts. Life goes on, or at least mine does, for as long as I have a choice in that matter. Just so you don't get the wrong ideas here. ^ ^