artwork info | song info | legend | lyrics
artwork info
textile collage on cradled wood panel (felt, fabric, M&S Schmalberg leather flowers)
24″H x 24″W x 1.5″D
2025
$650
song info
category ▸ Other Folk Songs
text ▸ Rósa Guðmundsdóttir (1795–1855)
music ▸ trad arr. Jón Ásgeirsson (1960)
listen here 🔈 https://youtu.be/T29l45x8Fmg
“Vísur Vatnsenda-Rósu” is a traditional Icelandic song. The lyrics are a poem written by Rósa Guðmundsdóttir; the melody is a traditional lullaby, arranged by Jón Ásgeirsson (1928–) in 1960.
Vísur Vatnsenda-Rósu
Augað mitt og augað þitt,
ó, þá fögru steina,
mitt er þitt og þitt er mitt,
þú veizt, hvað eg meina.
Langt er síðan sá eg hann,
sannlega fríður var hann,
allt, sem prýða mátti einn mann,
mest af lýðum bar hann.
Þig eg trega manna mest
mædd af tára flóði,
ó, að við hefðum aldrei sést,
elsku vinurinn góði.
Engan leit eg eins og þann
álma hreyti bjarta.
Einn guð veit eg elskaði hann
af öllum reit míns hjarta.
Þó að kali heitur hver,
hylji dali og jökul ber,
steinar tali og allt, hvað er,
aldrei skal eg gleyma þér.
Augað snart er tárum tært,
tryggð í partast mola,
mitt er hjartað sárum sært,
svik er hart að þola.
Beztan veit eg blóma þinn,
blíðu innst í reitum.
Far vel Eyjafjörður minn,
fegri öllum sveitum.
Man eg okkar fyrri fund,
forn þó ástin réni.
Nú er eins og hundur hund
hitti á tófugreni.
English translation
Verses by Rósa of Vatnsendi
My eye and your eye,
oh, those fair stones,
mine is yours, and yours is mine,
you know what I mean.
Long has it been since I saw him,
truly, he was fair,
all that could grace a man,
he bore above all others.
Of all men, I mourn you most,
weary in a flood of tears,
oh, that we had never met,
my dear, beloved friend.
No one have I seen like him,
bright as a trembling elm.
Only God knows I loved him
with all my heart’s deep realm.
Though hot springs freeze,
and valleys drown in ice and snow,
though stones may speak,
and all things change,
never shall I forget you.
My eye is swift, yet blurred with tears,
faith shattered into pieces,
my heart is torn with bitter wounds,
betrayal is hard to bear.
Best I know your bloom so bright,
your gentleness deep within.
Farewell, my Eyjafjörður dear,
fairest of all lands.
I recall our first embrace,
though old love fades away.
Now it feels as if a dog met a dog
at the fox’s hidden den.
Lyrics reproduced under fair use for artistic commentary.