“As a friend of his, that was the most grim, boring, monovisioned part of him,” she said.

The windows were curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth.

As poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.

Since then we have had the opportunity to travel in them and were much impressed by the internal styling and comfort of the seating (with the minor exception of the single seats which have been tucked in longitudinally alongside some of the entrance vestibules and which are so cramped that only the slimmest of female figures could be comfortable in them; the space they occupy would have been better utilised to increase standing room).