Lappland's summer

Lappland's summer

In Lappland all gets into flower soon,
the earth, grass, wheat, also the Lapplandish dwarf trees.
That I have been thinking about often
when I have looked to the past fates of this people.

Why among us all beautiful tends to die
and great deteriorate to not worthy?
Why do we have so many out of their mind?
Why so few who play a musical instrument?

Why men here everywhere fall like grass, -
men, of hope really,
men of ideals, men of feelings,
all get to be earth or stop in the midle of action?

In other countries gray haired spark fire,
in the elderly shines the sun of spirit.
Among us already kids are alike elderly men
and a young man is already ready for grav.

And what about me? Why do I ponder about these things?
It is a mark of having early grown old.
Why am I not following the command of blood's instinct,
but sigh about the fates of peoples?

There is only one answer: Lappland's summer.
In thinking of it one gets melancholic.
Short is Lappland's birdsong, fun
and the flourishing of flowers and other joys.

But long is the might of winter.
Just a moment rest ideals here like from flight,
when they again begin a sunny journey
and already leave the icy Lappland.

Oh, white birds, you guests of Lappland's summer,
you great ideals, I greet you!
Oh, stay here, make a nest here,
even if you move to the southern lands!

Oh, learn from the swans!
They leave in the autumns, return in the springs.
On our shores it is peaceful
and safe the side of Lappland's hills.

Sound of your wings whle you fly through the air!
Do deeds, lighten lands!
But when you see that winter has gone from here,
I pray, I ask: please return!

Eino Leino  (My traslation)


(I live in Savo,originally from Helsinki and haven't been to Lappland, I am just a Finn and I was translating Eino Leino's poems at large, not in connection with Lappland, even though this poems is famous just in connection with Lappland.
I have also written about the seasons in Savo and the capital area, see http://finnishskills.blogspot.fi/2014/11/living-with-seasons.html , to which I needed some poems...)

(10th of June 2020   Surviving the winter is a question of high skills. I do not know if it belings here at all, but Santa Claus is said to live in the Finnish Lappland, and I have written a very long text about learning skills of Christmas gnomes and other Finnish gnomes: You can find it at https://learntalents.blogspot.com/ )

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I try to explain this poem, kind of to tell that poems have objective content and are valuable, that is if they are really good quality poems.
1st paragrapf:  The practical physical circumstancies in which we live our lives determine a lot of how our lives go. The Lapplandish seasons show that for example the ampunt of daylight and of how much one can because of the weather spend time outdoors, affect a lot how we feel:what is our situation of life that our feelings make us tuned to. From such things one can learn different lessons in life, especially valuable lessons aóne can learn from the nature, since it is objective, ages old and fractureless good quality, also objective in it's concretical features like for example the seen landscape and how branches grow toward light, which often is a good example for reaching one's goals, a good analogy for them.
2nd paragrapf:  These are problems that the poet wants to solve in the world at large, with the help of the wisdom of life learned from the Lapplandin´sh nature. Music is a cure.
3rd paragrapf: to these the pet thinks that the Lapplandish nature is a good cure:if they did not have those wished for strenghts to begin with, the Lapplandish way of life together with the nature tend to teach them so that they can have them as realk virtuals from then on.
4th : Ideals that people, also kids tend to agree with, even though saiud as if one did not have such.
...