The window

The alley was very narrow,

and if two men want to go together this way

they would have to walk in a single file.

At the end of the single lane reveals the rear

of the red-painted wooden house which had two windows

and a kitchen door with a room addition.

This is Erlendur's window.

Up this dark alley: there lay my path

many past evenings;

and if I saw light, it was as if problems and suffering

of a whole century had been lifted.

Here awaited me after troubled days and work

— or a journey abroad —

fulfillment of hope that most people will not experience,

to receive from a friend a secure answer,

It removed all doubt and fear from you

That had paused in your mind:

Every silence gets a sound; every word bears fruit (epli) in it.

Which comes from an ancient tree sound.

There gods and old priests drift in

and the goddesses of the lands,

criminals and children get their cup

of the best friend of each man.

And Steinn Steinar the poet read me his poems

in a lifeless manner,

came with freezing hands up the alley, knocked on the door,

and drank from God's coffee cup.

Oh mild wise eyes, eyes of a horse,

about a past moment

this light that burned, it still lights for us

up this darkened alley.