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  • Thor Heyerdahls mor
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Thor Heyerdahls mor

Jan Erik Vold

Thor Heyerdahl, en traust
og stillferdig
nordmann, som tenkte
sitt og ville

finne
ut om det
stemte – så han bygde seg en flåte
av balsa

på de gamle
inkaers
vis, han ville seile
over

havet. Ikke mange trodde på
at han skulle greie det
men hans mor
trodde

det, hun sendte
telegram: Gi lyd
når
du er over. Og han kom over.


Jan Erik Vold

from 20 Contemporary Norwegian Poets: A Bilingual Anthology, edited by Terje Johanssen (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1984)

Reproduced by kind permission of the author.

Tags:

explorers mothers Norwegian perseverance post and mail ships and boats translation trust

Translations of this Poem

Thor Heyerdahl’s mother

Thor Heyerdahl, a stolid
and quiet
Norwegian, had these
ideas

which he wanted
to
verify – so he built himself a raft
of balsa wood

in the manner
of the ancient
Incas, he wanted to sail
across

the ocean. Not many people thought
he was going to make it
but his mother
thought

so, she sent
a telegram: Let us know
when
you get there. And he got there.

Source: from 20 Contemporary Norwegian Poets: A Bilingual Anthology, edited by Terje Johanssen (New York: St Martin's Press, 1984), translated by the author. Reproduced by kind permission of the author.

About this poem

This poem, representing Norway, is part of The Written World – our collaboration with BBC radio to broadcast a poem from every single nation competing in London 2012.

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