Instead of ink they gave me gold
and I had to pay for it
by necessity with my life
so I have in fact
already said too much.
Because of these words
I am sitting in a little cottage in the woods.
And as you can see from the way
the gold shines
it is autumn, moon and racing clouds.
I wanted so much to share
these things with you
and give you my entire soul.
Now you get the reflection
and my head.
Henrik Nordbrandt has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and is considered one of the leading contemporary Danish poets. In 2001 he received the Nordic Prize, one of many honors awarded to his work. Nordbrandt currently lives in Turkey. (updated 2005)
Thom Satterlee translated, from the Danish, The Hangman’s Lament: Poems of Henrik Nordbrandt (Green Integer, 2003) and two collections of the poet Per Aage Brandt: These Hands (HOST, 2011) and If I Were a Suicide Bomber & Other Verses (Open Letter, 2017). His individual translations have appeared in Seneca Review, Prairie Schooner, AGNI, The Literary Review, and elsewhere. (updated 10/2018)