Trondheim

Jennifer Paige©1997

City of one thousand years,

Tell me stories of the past

My past

Our past

For they are the same

In the 1840’s

My lineage crossed the sea

            To America

Tell me why?

Those who stayed nestled in your fjords

            Are the most joyous people I know

Grandmother was cold and cruel

She took to the bottle for warmth

            Too young

The Grace in her vanished

            As if someone had plucked out her laughter

            And replaced it with a shiver of snow

Was she longing for you?

Are your farms still splendid green

            In summer

            Like the pictures I’ve seen

            Even after one thousand years of sickle?

When plow first broke the thawing ground

            Did it make a sound?

A faerie’s whisper?  The thawing snow?

Or was it thunderous like echo

            And waves on your North shore?

Your churches worshipped one thousand years of parishioners

On you roads, one thousand years of traffic journeyed

            May you live to see one thousand years more

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