Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Poets
    • Poems
    • Makar – National Poet
      • Our Waking Breath: A Poem-letter from Scotland to Ukraine
      • A Woman’s A Woman
      • The story of the Makar – National Poet of Scotland
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Spiorad an Àite
      Spirit of Place
    • The Trysting Thorns
    • Poetry Ambassadors
      Tosgairean na Bàrdachd
      • Poetry Commissions: Walter Scott 250
        Coimiseanan Bàrdachd: Walter Scott 250
      • Poetry Ambassadors 2021
    • Poetry Ambassadors 2020
    • Posters
    • Podcasts
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • Designing sensory poetry activities
    • Children’s poems in Scots
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Meeting rooms and venue hire
    • Exhibitions
  • Shop
    • Poetry Highlights
    • Entropie Books
    • Stichill Marigold Press
    • Poems for Doctors, Nurses & Teachers
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Jobs
    • Company Papers & Policies
    • Our projects
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • Rauni Magga Lukkari
  • >
  • Mor
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

Mor

Rauni Magga Lukkari

Jeg har ropt på min egen mor

Sorgen river meg i stykker
skjærer med jern i ryggen
klorer opp brystet
Og der
hvor han var i ni måneder
akkurat der har en smertestein lagt seg
Den skulle jeg fått føde
fram
Men veene mine
borer steinen rundt
i meg, djupere i meg
Blir man vant
går det an
å bære på smertens stein
som et foster?

Søvnen spjæres
av mine egne skrik
Dag og natt går i ett
Drømmene tvinner seg inn i dagens strev
Dagens strev i alt som trykker
Og jeg spør meg selv:
Var jeg samme mennesket
før dette?

Jeg har ropt på min egen mor
og hennes mor
og mormors mor
Jeg har bedt om råd
spurt hva jeg skal gjøre
når de glemte å fortelle
hva man gjør
når dette skjer

Er jeg her
regnes jeg lenger med?

Jeg har gått på besøk
gått i butikker
rørt ved folks blikk
Mange
mange har stanset opp
fortalt meg at jeg fremdeles finnes!


Rauni Magga Lukkari

translation from the Sami into Norwegian © Laila Stien

Reproduced by permission of the author and translators.

Tags:

Norwegian Sami poetry Translations

Translations of this Poem

The Mother

Translator: Kenneth Steven


I have called on my own mother

Grief tears me in pieces
cuts with iron into my back
rips up my breast
And there
where he was for nine months
right there a stone of pain has been laid
That I should give birth to
produce
But my sorrows
cut the stone round
into me, deeper into me
Does one get accustomed
it is possible
to carry the stone of pain
like an unborn?

My sleep is torn
by my own screams
Day and night become one
Dreams become tangled with daily toil
That toil in everything that burdens
And I ask myself:
Was I the same person
before this?

I have called on my own mother
and her mother
and grandmother’s mother
I have begged for guidance
asked what I should do
when they forgot to say
what one does
when this happens

Am I here
do I still count?

I have paid calls
gone into shops
attracted people’s attention
Many
many have stopped
told me I am still here!

About this poem

‘Northern Light’, the Scottish Poetry Library event at the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe in 2000, featured readings by Rauni Magga Lukkari in Sami and Norwegian with translations read by Gerda Stevenson, in Norwegian by Rune Christiansen and in Gaelic by Aonghas MacNeacail.


The Royal Norwegian Consulate supported the commissioning of translations for the occasion by Kenneth C. Steven.

Share this
Facebook
Twitter
Email

Learn more

Rauni Magga Lukkarib.1943

Rauni Magga Lukkari is a native of the Finnish side of the Tana river. Her first poetry collection was published in 1980, by which time she had moved to Tromsö, in northern Norway, where she still lives. She writes in...
More about Rauni Magga Lukkari

Podcasts

Our audio programme of poets, poems and news for you to listen to.
Listen Now

Newsletter

Sign up for our regular email newsletter.
Subscribe now
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2022.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
Scottish Poetry Library