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Poetry, writing and translations by K-M Skalkenæs

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‘The Land Which Is Not’ was a work in progress at the time of Södergran’s death in 1923 and was published posthumously in 1925 – therefore it is shorter and more fragmented than the other collections. Some of the poems in this collection were written as early as 1916 while others were written very shortly before her death. They have been arranged in chronological order.

Category: The Land Which Is Not

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: Arrival in Hades

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

Look, here’s the beach of eternitywhere the stream runs past,and death plays in the bushesits certain, repetitive melody. Death, why do you silence?We were long underwayand long to hear,we never had a wet-nursewho could sing like you do. The wreath […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: The Land Which Is Not

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

I long for the land which is not,for I am tired of desiring all that is.The moon tells me with writing in silvery clear runesabout the land which is not.The land where all we wish for wondrously comes into being,the land where […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: There’s Nobody Who Has

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

There’s nobody in the world who has timeapart from God alone.And therefore all the flowers come to Himand so even the last among the ants. The forget-me-not asks him for cleaner glassin its blue eyesand the ant asks him for greater […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: November Morning

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

The first snowflakes fell.Where the waves had written their runes in the sand of the riverbedwe went with devotion. And the beach said to me:See, here you wandered as a child, and I am always the same.And the tree near […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: The Moon

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

How all the dead is wondrousand impossible to word:a dead leaf, a dead humanand the sickle of the moon.And all flowers know a secretand the forest keeps it:the wandering of the moon around our Earthis the path of death.And the […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: Homecoming

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

The trees of my childhood stand cheering around me: oh Human!and the grass greets me welcome home from foreign countries.My head I rest in the grass: mow I’m finally home.Now I turn my back on all which lie behind me:my […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: O, Divine Clarity

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

O, divine clarity on the child’s brow –its angel sees the Father in the Heavens. And the light which streams from the saint’s eyes is darkness compared withthe peace resting on the child’s brow, the divine peace. And the halo glowing around the […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: Graveyard Fantasy

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

What is it which sounds from the graveyard: My own! My love!Whom is it who yells in the fog?It is the warrior’s wife who runs out to meet her husband.The image of God’s mother hangs on a snow-white cross with […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: The Trees of My Childhood

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

The trees of my childhood stand tall in the grassand shake their heads: what’s become of you?Rows of columns stand as reproaches: unworthy you walk beneath us!You’re a child and should be able to do everything,why are you chained in […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: The Gypsy Woman

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

I am a gypsy woman from a foreign land,in brown enigmatic hands do I hold my cards.Days follow days, similar and multi-coloured.Defiant I look into people’s faces:what do they know of the burning cards?What do they know of the living […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: Pale-hearted Night

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

Pale-hearted night, you listen…No, it is not true, your half blood is mighty enough.When it swells in your veinsand stacks, the world is yours. Pale-hearted night, when your blood is up, advanced and attacking,then your veins are like an empty […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: My Life, My Death and My Fate

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

I am no other than an endless will,an endless will, but for what, for what?All is dark around me,I can’t lift even a straw.My will wants only one thing, but this one thing I don’t know what is.When my will […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: Imprisonment

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

Caught, caught… I will break my chains.With pained lips I walk through my life.Precipices, why do I ask for you, you deserve no names.Bronze attaches to bronze and becomes human,and humans wander with iron in their hearts.But does the bronze […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: A Life

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

The stars are immovable –we all know that –but I will seek happiness on all the blue wavesand under all the grey stones.If happiness never comes? Then what is life?A tiny waterlily withers away in the sand.And if its knowing […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: Nothing

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

Be quiet, my child, there is nothing,and all is as you see: the forest, the smoke and the parallel rails.A place far away in a distant landthere is a far bluer sky and a wall of rosesor a palm tree […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: Sick Days

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

Tightly my heart is hidden in a narrow ravine,far away my heart is locatedon a distant island.White birds fly to and frowith the message that my heart lives.I know how it livesof coal and sandon sharp stones. I lay all day […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: My Future

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

A moment’s whimstole my futurebuilt on utter chance and accidents. Much more beautiful I shall build itas I thought it from the beginning.I shall build it on the firm groundwhich is called my will.I shall rise it on the tall columnswhich […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: The Princess

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

Every night the princess let herself be caressed.But the one who caresses merely satisfy his own hungerand her desire was a shy flower, a puzzled fairytale in the midst of reality.New caresses filled her heart with bitter-sweetnessand her body with […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: To Eros

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

Eros, you, the cruelest among gods,why did you lead me to the dark land?When girls grow upthey’re shut out from the lightand thrown into dark rooms.Did my soul not soar like a happy starbefore it was drawn into your red […]

  • Edith Södergran
  • The Land Which Is Not
12 Jan, 202012

Edith Södergran: The Bride

Posted By K-M Skalkenæs

My circle is narrow and the ring of my thoughtsis closed around my finger.Something warm lies at the bottom of all the unknown surrounding me,like the faint smell in the chalice of the waterlilies.Thousands of apples hang in my father’s […]

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