To find a dream

a poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

The ship’s siren wails the sorrow of eternal parting,
slowly the distance between dock and ship widens,
there is still time to jump back onboard
and to the safety of the threadbare known.

No, the mystery of the sea has gone,
I have business elsewhere, far inland,
but first I had to walk through a forest,
then climb a mountain to glimpse a vale
as beautiful as seen in many dreams.

Years it will take and often my goal
will be obscured by factory soot,
and the monotony of family life
will almost kill the dream,
but when time is mine again,
I shall find that vale of dreams.