Venice masks

Thursday, 7 May 2026

Ballad - Dan Andersson

My passion was born in the lusty spring
At the strand of the river tumbling blue.
Wild honey I drank in the years of my youth
In meadows drenched with midnight dew.
 
My passion was born at Paiso river,
Where pike go hunting and salmon flail.
It was a song that sang itself,
A wild man's drink, a music man's tale.
 
It seethed in my blood every swelling spring,
Born, reborn, to tempt and to claim;
A song that impassions an entire world
Making earth and the heavens flare and flame.
 
And never again will I love so,
As at Paiso's strand, amidst roses bright.
My passion is old and starting to gray
and can no longer find wild honey at night.

Dan Andersson [Black Jim] (1888 – 1920) Sweden
Translated by Janice D. Soderling
Source: Babel Web Anthology

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