By Simon Mol
Poem Written and read in a Cafe in Tromso, Norway ("Gateway to the Arctic") on September 9, 2004
Revered Spirits of this Land
Lord Mayor,
People of Tromso;
Here is a piece of my madness captured
In a few lines.
I never felt so happy…
For several long years;
I loved with the rain,
Ate rain-deer ….
In a place big enough to swallow a thousand whales.
The sky above this City,
Its Rainbow and the Nordic Light
Hills, Sea and Its Creatures-
All got here before a section of Us dreamt of wedding This Dream—today a galaxy of human stars.
Any being – Spirit or man, living here or not, would gladly declare, ‘I am proud of this town’.
This Space of splendor is a spiritual Prize.
It seems the whole Universe… was created from this Hallowed point.
The heartbeat pulsates, knowing guardians of this backyard,
endowed with the task of guarding it for all,
share Its air, wealth and allure
with those from distant lands.
For this, voices in exile, across worlds,
merge with songs sung by Sami gods,
ruckus of Thunder clasps to say thank you.
On the couch of our hearts Tromso rests.
It is our dream that this Space, Tromso –
be crowned an Asylum base.
And, since man survives on milk and meat,
and hybrid writers are deprived of strength to carry much,
may the gods we left behind, via dreams,
transport pieces of our bounties to this New Space…
so It becomes a safe haven for History, You and Us
Simon Mol………………………….. …Cameroon/Poland…………………….
This poem was written while Simon Mol was attending the 70th World Congress of International PEN during which he was elected as an executive member of International PEN’s Writers-In-Exile Network
Comments