Rolf Jacobsen: "Just Delicate Needles—"

 
















It's so delicate, the light.

And there's so little of it. The dark
is huge.
Just delicate needles, the light,
in an endless night.
And it has such a long way to go
through such desolate space.

So let's be gentle with it.
Cherish it.
So it will come again in the morning.
We hope.

"Just Delicate Needles—" by Rolf Jacobsen. Text as published in The Roads Have Come to an End Now: Selected and Last Poems of Rolf Jacobsen, translated by Robert Bly, Roger Greenwald and Robert Hedin (Copper Canyon Press, 2001). This poem translated from the original Norwegian (found on page 138 of this online source) by Robert Hedin.

Art credit: Untitled image by unknown photographer.