I Pass the Arctic Circle

I PASS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

A man on the train points to the cairn on the mountain.

We're passing the Arctic Circle, he says.

At first we don't see any difference,

to the north the land looks the same,

but we know what we go toward.

I wouldn't have noticed this little event myself

if I hadn't, one of these days, passed seventy.

Olav H. Hauge

Translated from Norwegian by Robert Hedin

The Kenyon Review

Special Issue: Culture and Place

Summer/Fall 2003