Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Inuit Poem - I Remember the White Bear.















I remember the white bear,
With its back-body raised high;
It thought it was the only male here,
And came towards me at full speed.
     Unaya, unaya.

Again and again it threw me down,
But it did not lie over me,
But quickly went from me again.
It had not thought
Of meeting other males here,
And by the edge of an ice floe
It lay down calmly.
     Unaya, unaya.

I shall never forget the great blubber-beast;
On the firm ice I had already flayed it,
When the neighbors with whom I shared the
     land here
Had just woken.
It was as if I had just gone to its breathing hole
     out there.
     Unaya, unaya.

There as I came across it,
And as I stood over it, it heard me,
Without scratching at the ice,
At the under edge of the firm ice to which it
     had hooked itself,
Truly it was a cunning beast–
Just as I felt sorry that I had not caught it,
     Unaya, unaya,

I caught it fast with my harpoon head,
Before it had even drawn breath!


NETSILIK INUIT




photo 2009:gb 

2 comments:

Rose said...

Fascinerende læsning.
Kh
Rose

Thyra said...

Hej Haverose, ja det er et stærkt og smukt sprog. Ligesom Native Americans, de har også en sans for et smukt sprog.
vh Grethe ` )