Rolf Jacobsen (1907–1994) grew up in Oslo, Norway, but worked in Hamar for much of his life in a career that spanned more than sixty years. His many volumes of poetry gained universal acclaim, and he is revered as one of the twentieth century’s greatest Scandinavian poets. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Jacobsen’s last and selected poems were published in the
collection The Roads Have Come to an End Now (Copper Canyon Press, 2001) and translated by Robert Bly, Roger Greenwald, and Robert Hedin.

Road’s End

by Rolf Jacobsen, translated by Robert Bly

The roads have come to an end now,
they don’t go any farther, they turn here,
over on the earth there.
You can’t go any farther if you don’t want
to go to the moon or the planets. Stop now

People on couch
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