Finnish poet, Arto Melleri dies at the age of 48

LAND OF MILK AND HONEY

Then I though I was born to die young –
now I am old enough to want to live, and wonder
to the land of milk and honey,
to see,
what’s going on!
What is going on
over there
(the-the-the-there-re-re-e)

Land of milk and honey
waits for me,
I do not believe in Gothic death anymore,
not in German darkness.
The closer the Soviet troops to
Ber-r-rrr-rr-lin,
the more often Hitler asks for
a dentist
to paint
his nose with liquid cocaine!

War is over, and I refuse
to believe in new,
carpe diem, let’s go
to the land of milk and honey.

Source: Arto Melleri (2004). Scarred Warrior of Love (Arpinen lemmen soturi, in Finnish). Helsinki: Otava. Translated by Juha Suoranta.

--Arto Melleri was born in 1956 in Lappajärvi, Finland, and died in Helsinki, Finland, May 13th 2005. He lived his adult life in Helsinki, and wrote for theatre after finishing theatre school in 1980. He published poems and short stories. His collection of poetry, Elävien kirjoissa, won the Finlandia Prize for Literature in 1992.