by Susanne Jorn
Peace
The snow falls
softly, softly tonight.
I stand in the middle of
Kongens Nytorv
in Copenhagen.
Sparkling snowflakes,
twinkling snowflakes:
Snow me into my stars.
*
- - -
Worry is blackest
Sorrow, whitest.
Happiness is purple.
Unhappiness, grey.
Hope is primordial yellow.
Revenge, blood-red.
Non-violence is turquoise.
Violence, pale orange.
Lies are green.
Truth, violet.
Prose is pink.
Poetry, blue.
Death is colourless –
Life, a many-coloured painting.
(from Med et halvt øje [With Half An Eye], Forlaget Sohn, 2006)
translated from Danish by David McDuff
NB read Lev Hrytsyuk's Ukrainian translation of the second poem here.
