Mysterious moon!In an hour you rise –and golden everythingwith African fantasies.I stand with the lyrein the darkness of the yard.The King’s daughter in the towerthrows stars to me.The wood lake smiles suddenly –Oh, pearls, gold and silver! –the capes layas eternal […]
Edith Södergran: The Characteristic
Is God unfaithful?Does he chase his boldest angels from Heaven?No – I say:He gave me honey and wormwood.The tough, dark mass I poured out on the ground. The form lasted.He gave me a dark red rose –the smallest in the […]
Edith Södergran: Am I a Liar…
Am I a criminal, my sin is great…Am I a jest, am I with holy things…Am I a liar, let me then plummet from Heavenand be crushed on your square. Am I a liar –then let unholy spirits bury my […]
Edith Södergran: Don’t Collect Gold and Jewels
Humans,don’t collect gold and jewels:fill your hearts with longing,that burns like red-hot coals.Steal the rubies from the angels’ gazes,drink the cold water of the devil’s pool.Humans, don’t collect treasurethat make you beggars;collect richesthat give you royal power.Gift your children a […]
Edith Södergran: Dawn
I shine my light over all of the Atlantic…Unknown worlds, nocturnal landswake towards me!I am the cold dawn.I am the merciless goddess of the dayin misty grey veilswith the blinking helmet of the early morning.Light, light my winds run over […]
Edith Södergran: The Most Beautiful God
My heart is the most beautiful one in the world.It is holy.Whoever sees itmust themselves shine with its glow.My heart is light as a bird,the most fragile form on Earth.I sacrificed itto an unknown god.The god highest up in the […]
Edith Södergran: At Nietzsche’s Grave
The great hunter has died…I drape over his grave warm flower carpets.I kiss the cold rock and say:here’s your first child in tears of joy.Chuckling I sit on your gravelike an insult – more beautiful than you dreamt.Enigmatic father!Your children […]
Edith Södergran: Foam
The champagne of lifewe drink pearlylight as foamtransparentchampagne-hearts… Champagne-eyes –the sky winks promisingly at you. Champagne-feet –follow your star Champagne-spirits –the glass cheers in your hands!
Edith Södergran: Light Patches
I have powers. I fear nothing.Light is heaven to me.If the world comes to an end –I shall not perish.My light horizons standover the stormy night of the Earth.Step out of the mysterious light patch!Unyielding my power waits.
Edith Södergran: Carefreeness
I don’t believe in humans.I’d have crushed my lyreif I didn’t believe in God.God shows me the wayout of the fog to the sun’s shining orb.He loves those who wander lightfootedly.Therefore he gave me all this carefreeness.I believe in him as […]
Edith Södergran: The Train of the Future
Tear down all gates of honour –they’re too low.Make room for our amazing train!Heavy is the future – build bridgesfor endless time! Giants, carry rocks from the end of the world!Demons, pour oil on the kettles!Monster, calculate the width with […]
Edith Södergran: The Armoured Trains
Fifty wagons with hope I had loaded for your America.They returned empty…The freight of disappointment…Now I’ll send armoured trains with rockhard masks in threatening peepholes:Wagons with achieval will return home by the thousands.
Edith Södergran: The Genie of the Apocalypse (fragment)
Humans, it swells in my breast.Flames, smoke and the stench of burned flesh:it is the war.– – – – – – – –I’ve come from the war – I arose out of chaos –I am the elements – in biblical […]
Edith Södergran: The Condition
Without actionI cannot live,chained to the lyre I would die.Is the lyre indeed the greatest on Earth for meI stayed true to it,was I not a flaming soul.The one who doesn’t with bloody nailsbreak a crack in the wall of […]
Edith Södergran: The Mother of God’s Rose
A rose lies in the arms of the Mother of God.A single petalheals crippled hearts.A rose lies in the arms of the Mother of God.She smiles with shining eyes –who will heal their poisonous hearts?
Edith Södergran: The God’s Lyre
Where does the lyre exists,of silver and ivory,which the gods presentedto the tribe of mortals?It has not been lost,since eternal presentsaren’t worn down by time,do not fall victim to fire. But does a singer comewith the deep marks of fate,he’ll fetch […]
Edith Södergran: The Trail of the Gods
The gods go through life with hearts raised above the pain…The gods carry life as lightly as columns carry brilliant rooms.The gods go through life, lonely, un-recognized they stand and watch our dark earth with eternal eyes.And where they have […]
Edith Södergran: The Fairy’s Castle
Behind the sea begins the mountains,behind the mountains is the fairy’s castle in the clouds.The fairy is eternally fifteen years old. –Her sunshine garments are more precious than the Earth.The fairy wishes everybody as blessed as her…her light heart she […]
Edith Södergran: Revanche
If I don’t succeed in bringing downthe tower in the town of reality,I will sing the stars from the skylike nobody has yet done.I will sing till my longing stops,the one that has never yet calmed,so that it pushes away […]
Edith Södergran: Landscape At Sunset
Look at the sunsetfloating fire-islands moveimperial over cream green seas.Islands on fire! Islands like torches!Islands on victory parade!Up from the depths a black forest sparklessneaky, envious – joyous, tree by tree, triumph by triumph…Poor stripes of forest in pale veils of mistis […]