Hans Christian Andersen: 'Havblik' (1830)

 

Havblik (1830)

 

’´Iδε πῶς κῦμα θαλάσσης

ἁπαλύνεται γαλήνῃ.

ANACREON*

 

Har Du seet Havet i en klar og stille Nat,

Naar Fladen ligger som et Speil saa glat,

Hvor Himlens halve Kugle, stjerneklar,

Afbilder sig i Fladens dunkle Glar,

Og i det Grændseløse mellem begge

Som Centrum staaer den lette Bølge-Snekke?

Hvad følte Du vel da? — Du smelted’ hen i Lyst!

Thi hvad dit Øie saae, stod ogsaa i dit Bryst.

Hiin Hav- og Himmelkugle, vel i Formen mindre

Men aandig klar, sig hvælver i vort Indre,

— Imellem to Uend’ligheder sat,

Vort Intets Nat

Og Himmel-Evigheden,

Staaer Mennesket herneden,

Og Centrum er vort Liv, et lille Blomster-Blad,

Der skiller tvende Evigheder ad. —

— Hiint store Rum, hvis Grændse ei er givet!

Hiin Evighed før Livet!

Hvor ene Anelsen, hvor det Guddommelige

Et Billed’ skaber i det dunkle Rige,

Et Billed’, som er kun paa Fladen sat,

Thi under den er Dybets store Nat,

Men høit, høit over os, hvor Tanken salig skjælver,

Den sande, store Evighed sig hvælver,

Hvor Mennesket som Aand, i luttret Lyst,

Og med en Verden i sit Bryst,

Sig svinger, som nu Nattens Stjerne-Skarer,

Om hine Soles Sol, der Alt opklarer,

Hvorfra hvert Liv, hver Straale først gik ud,

Hiint store Faderbillede, vor Gud!

 

*Seer du Havets stolte Bølge / Jævnes til en rolig Flade

Oversættelse af S. Meisling, 1826

 

 

Dead calm (1830)

 

’´Iδε πῶς κῦμα θαλάσσης

ἁπαλύνεται γαλήνῃ.

ANACREON*

 

Have you some clear and wind-still night e’er seen the sea

With surface mirror-smooth, calm as can be,

Where heavens’ hemisphere, as stars so bright

In dark glaze stand displayed there as pure light,

And in the boundless realm between the two,

As centre, a light sailing boat in view?

What did you feel if so? – You melted in delight!

For what your eye saw, in your breast too was in sight.

Yon sphere of sea and sky – although in size much less

Yet mentally as clear – within us we possess.

Placed between two infinities aright,

Our Nothing’s night

And Heaven’s endless girth,

Man stands down here on earth,

The centre is our life, a flower’s small leaf,

That holds apart the two eternities. –

– Yon endless space, who limits none can see!

Yon vast pre-life eternity!

Where only intimation, sacred whelm,

Creates an image in the murky realm,

An image on the surface solely traced,

For under it the night’s abyss is placed,

But high, high up above, where thought in bliss is quaking,

True, vast eternity its vault is making

Where man as spirit, by sheer bliss possessed,

And with a world inside his breast,

Now like these swarms of stars flies out, rotates

That far-off sun of suns which all illuminates –

From where each life once journeyed and each beam –

That mighty father image, God Supreme!

 

*Look how the wave of the sea is softened to a calm

Translation by T.W.C. Edwards