Miks on miulla silmät pienet

SKVR III1 193·Soikkola·1858·Collector: Länkelä, Jaako

In the SKVR edition: [Soikkola t. Narvusi]. J. Länkelä. v. III 19 a. 1858.

SKVR textEnglish

1Miks on miulla silmät pienet,Why do I have small eyes,

2Näkimet näin mokomat?Such sight as this?

3Silt' on miulla silmät pienet,Because of that, I have small eyes,

4Näkemäni näin mokomat,What I’ve seen made them so,

5Itkin paljo kuollehia,I wept much for the dead,

6Elänehiä viel' enemmän,For the living even more,

7(Itsiäni viel' enemmän).(Myself most of all).

8Miks' on outo ollakseni,Why am I strange to exist,

9Kumma kuulotellakseni.Odd to be perceived?

10Miks' on mieleni pahennut?Why has my mind soured?

11Sill' on outo ollakseni,Because I am strange to exist,

12Kumma kuulotellakseni,Odd to be perceived,

13Sill' on mieleni pahennut,That’s why my mind soured,

14Miks' tuo luomaton toruu,Why does the uncreated one chide,

15Saunan käymätön sanoo,The sauna-shunner speaks?

16Toukkaelee tuovarille,It creeps to the granary,

17Vesi pangille vetää,Water pulls to the bench,

18Viepi kiusaten kivelle,Leads me, taunting, to the stone,

19Panee kiven kiinteleksi,Makes the stone unyielding,

20Paaen paljon painavaksi.The slab unbearably heavy.

21Mie vait jauhon jäärettelin,I silently ground flour scraps,

22Kivenpuu käkönä kukku,The stone-tree cuckoo called,

23Lapatti sisona lauloi,The lapatti sang like a spirit,

24Mie itse vetenä vierin.I myself rolled like water.

25Kivi rikko rintaluuni,The stone shattered my ribs,

26Paasi paino hartiani,The slab crushed my shoulders,

27Peremies tuvasta kuuli,The master heard from the house,

28Luuli riuvut riskavanna,Thought beams were creaking,

29Luuli parret paukkavanna,Thought rafters were splitting,

30Luuli orret ohkavanna;Thought poles were groaning;

31Ne miun riskit rintaluuni,Those were my ribs cracking,

32Ne miun paukit palkeheni.Those were my sides bursting.

33Niin oli jauhoo kivellä,There was flour on the stone,

34Kuin oli lunta kulvehella;Like snow on a sled runner;

35Niin oli kyyneltä kivellä,There were tears on the stone,

36Kuin vettä talon välillä.Like water between houses.

English translations by DeepSeek R1, provided by Lidia Pivovarova (University of Helsinki). AI-generated translations may contain inaccuracies.

The text is that of the SKVR digital edition of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS), with these changes:

The edition’s line numbers are replaced by a number on every verse, counted as in the poem reader.

Source

Text: SKVR (Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot), the digital edition of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS), licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Added by RunoVerse: the English translations, the song types, the verse numbers and the links.