The evening is festooned with golden clouds
the fairies dance in the meadow
and the leaf-crowned Nacken
plays his fiddle in the silvery brook.
Little boy in the brush on the bank
resting in the violet vapor
hears the noise from the chilly water
calls out in the still night.
"Poor old fellow, why do you play?
will it take the pain away?
you bring the woods and the fields to life
but you'll never be a child of God.
Paradise's moonlit nights
eden's flower-crowned plains
angels of the light on high—
never to be beheld by your eye."
Tears stream down the old man's face
down he dives into the rapids
the fiddle silences.
And the Nacken will never
play again in the silvery brook.
Notes
Nacken is effectively naked in Swedish and so in this context it is a Naked Water Demon
Leave a guest comment (subject to review)
Comments
-
I saw that someone wondered what Näcken(that is the correct spelling, swedish has three more letters than english)is. It is a mythological figure that is portraited naked with a violin.
-
This supposed water demon doesn't seem like such a bad guy, I feel sorry for him.
-
This poem uses a few words that I've never heard before. . . festooned. . . The second stanza, I think, is the most present in the poem. . . the last stanza. . . I didn't really catch it last night. . . as I was so terribly tired. . .but. . . I don't have the slightest idea what a Nacken is. . . I'm guessing it's some type of animal. . . but, again, I'm not sure.
-
First, Eden is a proper noun, and should be capitalized as such, secondly, I think I mispelled my fair share of words, so, rather than complaining, I should just sit silently. I like the . . . you bring the woods and the fields to life. . . .
Adding your comment:
