Sunday, March 08, 2009

a poem

some time ago I was tagged by Cecilia; to present my favorite poem. This poem was written by my father Johannes Hedberg and comes from his book of Poetry "Nostalgia". The books was published in 1992 and illustrated by me.

I Know that I Shall Never See Again

I Know that I Shall Never See Again
my childhood's rhododendron woods in bloom
Above Mussoorie, in the foothills of
Himálaya, where Kim O'Hara once
Was taught to play the Game. Nor shall I see
Again the snowy heads of Kedarnath
And Badrinath, at sunrise "windy-red
Above stark blue" Such sights, such wonderous
sights,
Although engraved for ever on my mind,
Were overlaid in time by other sights,
and half-forgotten. Now that I am old,
A child once more, I am again that boy
And see in bold relief the flowery woods
And watch the sun paint red the snow-white peaks
Of far-off mountains reaching into Heaven

(This poem was without illustration so I show you two other pages)


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Hedbergs are quite a talented family!

aimee said...

i'm nearly speechless, alexandra. what a brilliant father-daughter collaboration. thank you for sharing this priceless piece of your family's history and talent with us.

Esti said...

it's beautiful, and even more, coming from your own father .

●• Thereza said...

brilliant collaboration! and what a talented father. beautiful, really beautiful poem!

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a great poem!
Did your father grow up there?

Alexandra Hedberg said...

Jeff - my father was born in India by missionary parents (Swedish/German). His first language was Hindi. When he was 5 they moved to the States - as he had been seriously ill time after time and the doctors said he had to leave India in order to survive. In Europe the first world war was going on ... so it had to be somewhere else ... and then he had to learn English. At 7 they moved to Sweden and he spoke then only English and Hindi. After learning Swedish - back to India to learn "proper" British English at Boarding school while his parents were busy with their mission.

My father was really good at languages!

Veja cecilia said...

wow!

Andreas Hedberg said...

Hej Alexandra. Lustigt nog läste jag farfars dikt häromdagen. Den är fin. /Andreas

Lotte said...

I like that...so nice that you made the illustrations :)