... It runs in all directions,
so the path becomes too narrow.
It lifts a proud snout
for just today it is out
for the first glorious time
That the world is so huge
is more than a puppy can grasp.
Things approach in a stream
and yet more things that seem
ready to be sniffed out.
It sniffs everything it meets
and tugs at my trouser leg
because I must see what it finds
a straw, a stick, some orange rinds,
a flower. In a gutter!
From Hundehvalpen by André Bjerke. (Norsk tekst)
To English by John Lloyd-Jones, 1997