Happy Eino Leino Dayo!

Not my neighbour

My poor 75 year old neighbour always looks round like he's half expecting to find death itself looming over him, sickle in hand. "How's it going?" I had shouted across the hedge. "Why are the flags flying?"

The lovely old boy braced himself, rueing the minutes his English neighbour had scared from his lifespan, and explained that today is the day of Eino Leino, according to Wikipedia not only one of Finland's poetry pioneers but also, he is beloved.

Eino Leino (6 July 1878 – 10 January 1926) was a Finnish poet and journalist and is considered one of the pioneers of Finnish poetry. His poems combine modern and Finnish folk elements. The style of much of his work is like the Kalevala and folk songs. Nature, love, and despair are frequent themes in Leino's work. He is beloved and widely read in Finland today.

Apart from a great sounding name, a bit like Arnold Layne, it turns out that Eino Leino lived through a civil war, married three times and published over 70 books of poems and stories. Holy Moly! What people got done before YouTube.

Here's one of his poems translated into English. Definitely melancholic, a man waiting for death against a Finnish backdrop. Very nice.

Nocturne - Poem by Eino Leino 

The corncrake's song rings in my ears,
above the rye a full moon sails;
this summer night all sorrow clears
and woodsmoke drifts along the dales,
I do not laugh or grieve, or sigh;
the forest's darkness breathes nearby,
the red of clouds where day sinks deep,
the blue of windy hills asleep,
the twinflower's scent, the water's shade-
of these my heart's own song is made.
You, girl as sweet as summer hay,
my heart's great peace, I sing to you,
O my devotion, tune and play
a wreath of oak twigs, green and new.
I have stopped chasing Jack-o'-Lantern,
I hold gold from the Demon's mountain;
around me life tightens its ring,
time stops, the vane has ceased to swing;
the road before me through the gloom
is leading to the unknown room. 

Translated by Keith Bosley 

I raise my glass to you Leino.