We Celebrate Summer & Poetry!

The statue of Eino Leino in the Esplanade Park Helsinki. Photo: Harvey Barrison

Today we celebrate in Finland summer & the poet Eino Leino. He is one of our greatest poets and many of his poems have been composed to beautiful songs. Leino wrote this great joke poem already in 1912 - and it sounds great even today! I tried to translate it into English - not an easy task. He has compensated many letters u with y. I hope you'll get the idea!

KYLTYYRI - Culture = Cyltyre

With the dialect of Helsinki

"Cyltyre! Cyltyre! Cyltyre!"

That shout is in Finland qyantym,

What is that Cyltyre?

Yeah, that's jyst the troyble.

For some it is oypera cyre,

for another Stockholm ypscale,

Duncan, Forssell's figyre

or byyze of a Paris bym.

Thoysand fyrs has Cyltyre -

in China it is the China's hyrdle -

but in Finland, the Finnish Cyltyre

is the grandest caricatyre of the yniverse.

- Eino Leino, from the collection of Stargarten 1912

...

Tänään juhlitaan Runon ja suven ja Eino Leinon päivää! Leino kirjoitti tuon mainion pilarunonsa Kyltyyri jo vuonna 1912. Ja loistavasti se on aikaa kestänytkin.

KYLTYYRI

Helsingin murteella

”Kyltyyri! Kyltyyri! Kyltyyri!”

Tuo huuto on Suomessa syyri,

Mut mikä se on se kyltyyri?

Kas, siinäpä pulma on jyyri.

Se on yhdelle ooppera-kyyri,

taas toiselle Tukholma-tyyri,

Duncan, Forssellin figyyri

tai Parisin polityyri.

Tuhatkarvainen on kyltyyri –

se on Kiinassa Kiinaan myyri –

mut Suomessa Suomen kyltyyri

tuon kaiken on karrikatyyri.

- Eino Leino, kokoelmasta Tähtitarha 1912