spring water
honey
silk mushroom’s cream
juice of love

full moon
brought us together
made a bond
held us tight
even today it carries us

over the full moon bridge
it is easy to go
hand in hand

sun
sunshine
happiness
happy
the happiest day
our wedding day!
cold autumn in you
since it was only
my people
my customs
my sky heaven

I place a breast
against the mouth
it comforts
the whole man

and when
the red hawk flies
in the heart
softens hate
sarcasm stops
morning chirping
days on end



If we were only left alone
to learn to live together
but when the house is
like a marketplace and
everyone has their ways
sometimes
so filled with voices
eyes, ears
that I choke
the back cracks
a good thing of course
no fighting with the husband
when all the energy
goes to withstand the others
father-in-law’s fierce voice
mother-in-law’s psalms
sister-in-law’s door slamming
smacking lips of my brother-in-law
withstand
persevere, hold out
and where is my life then?
our life?

behind closed attic doors
in 90 square feet
and on top of that
mother-in-law’s curtains
bedspread from mother-in-law
a gift
the floor below
my own towel
that everyone dries themselves with
foreign language
foreign mind
and me
live here?
survive?
hold on?

just don’t believe
in lasting happiness
the devil lurks
under the ring fingernail
wreaks havoc
I cut the nail
and he gives up
but comes back
as soon
as the nail grows back

a well-traveled person
like me
does not have culture shock
if only
the damn hari krishnas
the idiotic ragheads
the cud chewers
don’t come too close

nicely required
to follow foreign ways
seeds of hate
fall into soft wet earth

you split the rocks
removed stones
burned dried grass
not giving up
sowed and watered
year after year
and then
finally
green

with your love
you lit summer
in me

I sit in my down nest
brooding over a brown egg
your wing
tickles my nostril
the sun shines
life laughs

curiosity
leads to the moon
to submission
to pregnancy

you’ll
get divorced!
maximum
four years!
seven months
already passed
and every day I thank
most humbly
thanks for the happiness
that no one
ever can know
what life can offer
and where
people
end up

Máilmmis dása (From the world and back) by Inger-Mari Aikio-Arianaic.  These are the first of 125 poems which comprise a single story. It is her 4th volume, originally published 2001 in North Sami, and nominated for the Nordic literary prize.  A Norwegian translation by Laila Stien & Mikkel A. Gaup has been published by DAT.