The White Village
or
ODE TO PUERTO de LAS NIEVES

I'm lying here looking so peaceful -
the white little village on a coast somewhere.
The people who live there and I
are dependent on each other.
Without people, no village
I love all of them.
I understand always the young ones
who are longing for other cities.
If they leave
one day they will return to me
for a shorter or a longer time -
I will always be in their memories.

But look at the fishing boats
and their men,
they are longing for the ocean.
But they are loyal to me -
every morning they are back
in my harbor with their fish.
If they don't return -
sometimes it happens -
they sleep near the island
not ttoo long away from the white village
in the ocean which they love so much.

Perhaps you live in London, New York, Paris,
or in another big city on Earth.
But when you are looking at me
or another white, little city somewhere -
You say, "Oh, how peaceful it is to be here -
so charming and exotic,
the weather is hot
and the wind has a gentle breeze."

Next time I see you little white village
perhaps you have many new white houses
with people from the North -
they have caught sight of you,
and so come the big hotels,
you are not so little and white anymore,
neither not so quiet -
but I hope you will always be as now;
The Sleeping Beauty.

Aud Sognnes
İMarch 2001
Midi: "Argyroka"

Photo:: "Puerto de Las Nieves"
By: Aud Sognnes February 2001