helen99: A windswept tree against a starlit sky (Default)
helen99 ([personal profile] helen99) wrote2003-11-14 05:16 pm

Finnish poetry

Of course, the Finns have something to say about this:

"In the yard there grows a Rowan.
Thou with reverent care
Should'st tend it.
Holy is the tree there growing.
Holy likewise are it's branches.
On it's boughs the leaves are holy.
And it's berries yet more holy."

From The Kalevala, a compilation of Finnish
oral poems dating back to the first century A.D.

PS: No matter how holy they might be, don't eat any part of this tree, especially not the berries. I repeat, don't eat the berries...
ivy: Two strands of ivy against a red wall (Default)

[personal profile] ivy 2003-11-14 02:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[laughs a lot] I really should get to reading the Kalevala one of these days.

I was just thinking on my drive home from work today that I should really get to doing something with rowan. I'm a slacker. Strangely, I know less where to start with this one.