Wednesday 28 October 2009

Bo Carpelan: Thirteen Poems

Over there
in foreign lands
nothing but vanity
there isn't anything
said
the widely travelled one
looking into the distance



Friends with the trees
friends with oneself



It peers
from the forest
from the chink in the door
the autumn crocus



The vital thread tensed
the tone sweet
breaks, suddenly



Drew out
the aching wisdom
lived happy



Ill-matched pieces
of body
gathered
to soul



Each dawn
a warning
until he believed
plunged downhill



What I fled
came back
had to seek
other ways
unfamiliar laid out by stones
towards new land



With quiet mind
silent around eye and lips
my day of shadows
my lost faithful life



Her gaze
the chill at her wrist



You who cure sorrow
cure joy
give windless bay
empty shores



Join dreams together
to a single reality
a longing



Where did you leave me
where did you hide me
even before you went away from me
in the days of early spring?
I left you
because you did not exist
neither in the spring's, nor in the autumn's
changing days
only when the day
was at its fairest

• • •

translated from Finland-Swedish by David McDuff

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