The famous Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland - Jan van Huysum's Flower Piece

Yet another watershed at 1840, the year this long work was first published in Norway and changed the literary scene for ever. Here is an extract from the first section in verse. The whole translation has been handsomely published by Maia Press in 2009.

THE CONTEMPLATION

Clumsy human admiration

that needs air and lips to say it!

Clumsier than the shy wonder

humble beasts display, you blunder

wholly in your adoration

squander in rapt adulation; --

with your passion’s savage heart

you misuse your love and slay it:

your adored unsullied art.

          Woe, if now that I need utter

(so compelled I sense my breast

gently moan when it is pressed)

I should cause this drop to flutter

from van Huysum’s soft rose petal

shaken by my lips’ rough breath!

Spring breeze, giddy, slow to settle,

shows more mercy if you will:

Dew’s bright gleam from grove and hedge

rain with iridescent edge,

hid in lady’s-mantle folds

every drop the eye beholds

it has plundered recklessly

in the air has scattered free

.. this one only lies there still,

at its rim like teardrop borne

trembling by an eyelash worn,

outmost in your diadem,

anguish that is sweet and tender

rolled on by your weighty gem;

lovely as the pearl whose splendour

merits it the heart of stars;

full as Magdalena’s tears

full and heavy, almost bursting;

shattering and yet still whole,

as sound counsel ripeness nears

in an angel’s saddened soul.

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