Atlantic island born in ice and fire
where clouds are kissing shores with rain
awake again adventurous desires
I easily from sunny shores abstain
No, give me brimstone smell and lava flows
and glowing glaciers in the froth of sea
a land where poetry replace its prose
a land without the shade of mighty trees
To walk the paths where heroes have been slain
between the settlements of violent pasts
where once the angry axes found its bane
but peacefully it rests when time has passed
But see! a one-eyed man who sits alone
it must be Odin who this peace bemoan
Today at dVerse Poetics Abhra want’s us to write about a place in the world where we wanted to be. And I thought immediately of Iceland. A place full of magic of stories. I was there 3 years ago, and just maybe I will head back there someday. For some reason all I write the moment turn into pentameter and sonnets.. so alas that is what I offer today as well.
And by coincidence it’s Iceland’s national day today.
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June 17, 2014
i’ve had customers from iceland here not too long ago who told me a bit about their country… it sounds beautiful indeed… love that you weave odin in as well and a bit of its history…that also makes a country – maybe even more than the landscape
It’s a magic place, and if you have read some of the sagas or seen “when the raven flies”.. the place is magic..
whew…gotta love those barren places bought by blood and full of stories & old gods….got a rough and rugged kinda beauty…and i have never been there…so might have to correct that…smiles.
I think it has a lot of that barren beauty.. could be a lot of rain and fog… but a rather quick flight there… 🙂
Intriguing landscape of ice and fire…your sonnet is beautiful, Bjorn.
A place full of magic of stories? Now that’s my kind of place. Good choice. 🙂
A good place for heroes
and through the nine realms of Ygrassil you go… beautiful beginnings, life from fire and ice!
Iceland sounds like an interesting place. Good piece, Bjorn. 🙂 —Susan
I’d love to visit Iceland.
I love the land ‘born in ice’ and fire and the references to Odin and the sagas. Iceland sounds a bit bare to me but I am sure it feels eerie and magical.
PS: I had not seen your little addition about Iceland’s national day. Nice coincidence.
No I actually noted that after I had wrote the poem
I’d love to visit Iceland. Your poem and photos convey the magic and mystery well.
Ice and fire . . . love that juxtaposition.
Your poem made me want to visit Iceland. Many people use Iceland as a stopover when traveling from USA to other places in Europe, as Icelandic Airlines often has good fares. I like the mythological references & also have been fascinated with Iceland’s ‘ice and fire.’ Good form as well, Bjorn.
It’s about 5 hours from the east-coast and 3 hours to Stockholm.. actually it would be a nice place to have a poetry meeting someday.
…and where some very famous chessgames once took place…
Can’t go wrong with a sonnet 🙂
This piece brings the magic of this place to life. I love the second stanza.
You are so skilled in writing form poetry, Bjorn. Great sense of place in this.
You still stand with legs apart, one foot in classical form, the other in urban concrete; and always, always, you pull it off, morphing the two worlds like a poetic magi; The look of Iceland mirrors where I ended up in Scotland; great minds, right, brother?
Bold and powerful like the landscape and its conquerors.
I just read your fine sonnet to my friend who craves to go to Iceland (and he says it’s closer than New Zealand – and that’s the truth). Lovely. I think you captured it and thanks for the photos too!! G.
Iceland is closer than most of Europe.. and it’s so exotic… I will go back one day..
a land where poetry replace its prose….sounds beautiful and I’d like to see it one day.
I recognised Iceland very early on! Yes, very classical style but touches of Robert Frost too in this impeccably composed piece.
What a beautiful poem! I wish I could write sonnets so easily…just lovely, and the 2nd stanza is wonderful! the photos are amazing. I must check it out to see how much a trip there would cost from here. What a lovely tribute writing this (coincidentally) on their national day.
May I reblog this??
Of course 😉
drama and adventure in your words… liked the vividness of this
I love sonnets, and I too turn to blank verse, a natural English/American cadence. Odin. You invoke him in landscape. I’d like to meet the Odin of Sigurd’s story, and have him choose my horse!
This is so very beautiful. I started to quote favorite parts, but every line takes my breath away!
I do love stark and barren landscapes – they feel so raw and vivid, so alive. Your poem does what I know of Iceland a great deal of justice.
Ah, Bjorn, I love the lines ‘give me brimstone smell and lava flows
and glowing glaciers in the froth of sea’ – just fab.
love the history you included in here… that country looks beautiful; I watched a doc on Icelandic power-lifters a few days ago actually
You and me both — some day I would LOVE to go to Iceland. The photos I’ve seen have taken my breath away — truly stunning
I like the ending – Odin bemoaning all of this dreadful “peace” that’s descended upon his domain!
Great work —
Reblogged this on Traces of the Soul and commented:
Not only is this a beautifully poem, it`s a nice homage to Iceland
Iceland is faraway from our world. Relative to others inconvenience in terms of time space and costs may make it remote. But great write from you may tip the balance in its favor someday! Great sonnet Bjorn!
Hank
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lovely to find Odin sitting in the couplet….your lines make the place more magical…
Ha, I had to laugh, as Iceland was the bone of contention for some friends of mine: a couple – she hated it, thought it barren and cold and wanted to spend her holidays elsewhere, he loved it, thought it the most spectacular and clear-cut place on earth, could happily have settled there. But then, he was from Siberia…
Ha..I can clearly see how you can end up divided on a place like Iceland… What was the compromise between hot and cold I wonder.
England!
Bravo! I could hear, see, smell, feel the history/myths.
Beautiful capture of Iceland, smiles.
“a land where poetry replace its prose” – was my favorite part.
what a beautiful place to be in to love…………
The voyager loves islands like Iceland, extremities of heat and cold, magnitudes that can only be witnessed, seen, reported back to the tribe. I think we need the evidence of the gods still gnashing their teeth somewhere. Loved it.
I love how this stark landscape evokes the heroes of old…I have been wanting to head up into the Arctic circle for Midsummer, 24-hour daylight…maybe next year…
In Stockholm where we are we still have pretty close to 24 hours of light.. and Iceland is not that much more north… Northern Noway I would recommend…
Hmm, Stockholm might be doable…I am not kidding, I am going to look up flights today. I had looked at Norway before, but seemed hard/expensive to get very far up north (we live in Germany). Someone also recommended cruises from Oslo…
If you would enjoy, the train from Stockholm to Narvik would take you all the way north of the arctic circle.. Abisko could be a nice stop for midnight sun.. or take a boat to the islands outside Narvik to see the midnight sun over sea… hmm.
I’m taking notes… 🙂
Give me palm trees,white sand and blue green sea
Iceland? Brrrrrrrrr!
(*smiles*) My eldest nephew longs to visit Iceland.
A place of mythology and wonder. I like the sound of your poem.
This is a gorgeous sonnet and stunning scenery!