A poor man’s longing for love and a woman

Dan Andersson, Swedish poet, 1888 – 1920

Dan Andersson “Jag väntar vid min mila”. Translated to English by me (note, for private use only on this blog, not to pass on in other contexts).

I’m waiting at my charcoal pile

I’m waiting at my wood fire while my watch hours proceed
while the stars are wandering and the nights pass by.
I wait for a woman, from where the long routes lead,
the dearest, the dearest, with blue eyes.

I imagined a wandering snow-capped blossom
and I dreamed about a trembling, elusive smile,
and I thought I saw the most loved one come
through the forest over the moors, a snow heavy night.

Happily, I wanted to wear my dreamed one on my hands
and carry her through the thickets to where my hut stands,
and call out with joy to my most loved and dearest:
”Welcome, you who I’ve been waiting for in lonely years.”

I’m waiting at my charcoal pile while my watch hours proceed
while the forests chants and clouds drift in the skies.
I wait for a wandering lass, roaming where the roads lead,
the dearest, the dearest, with blue eyes.

 

Original poem:

Jag väntar vid min mila

Unknown charcoal-burner

Jag väntar vid min stockeld medan timmarna skrida,
medan stjärnorna vandra och nätterna gå.
Jag väntar på en kvinna från färdvägar vida –
den käraste, den käraste, med ögon blå.

Jag tänkt mig en vandrande snöhöljd blomma,
och jag drömde om ett skälvande, gäckande skratt,
jag trodde jag såg den mest älskade komma
genom skogen, över hedarne en snötung natt.

Glatt ville jag min drömda på händerna bära
genom snåren dit bort där min koja står,
och höja ett jublande rop mot den kära:
”Välkommen du, som väntats i ensamma år.”

Jag väntar vid min mila medan timmarna lida
medan skogarna sjunga och skyarna gå.
Jag väntar på en vandrerska från färdvägar vida –
den käraste, den käraste, med ögon blå.

 

 

Dan Andersson (1888 – 1920), was a pioneer in the genre ”Swedish workers’ literature” belonging to the generation of young autodidacts that appeared in the early 1900s. His death was accidental. He and his wife Olga were expecting their first child and Andersson traveled to Stockholm to find work to support his family. The hotel where he stayed his first night in Stockholm had just before been cleaned up with cyanide gas against bedbugs, but the hotel staff had not properly ventilated the mattresses. Andersson and another guest died during the night. His daughter Monika was born on the day 6 months after his death. Dan Andersson himself, was born into a poor working-class family and started working as a helper to the adult workers and a charcoal-burn at the age of 12, as many working class children at that time. But his dream was always to be a writer. He was able to write several collections of poems, short stories and articles before his untimely death. His poems belongs to Swedish literature treasure and his poems are still sung and well known among common people.

 

To give you a sense of the ambience when Andersson’s poems are performed in singing and the moods his lyrics create in listeners, I think this video gives a link. (Although I don’t know what the woman sings!) 🙂