Don’t go too near to your dreams:they are smoke and easily scatter in the wind –they are dangerous and often last. Have you stared deep into the eyes of your dreams:they are sick and understand nothing at all –they only live […]
Edith Södergran: Autumn
Now it is autumn and the golden birdsall fly home over deep blue waters;on the beach I sit and starein the midst of the trembling glareand the hour of parting sighs through the branches.Great is the parting, separation near,but reunion […]
Edith Södergran: Nocturnal Madonna
When the black clouds moved across the skya mother sat awake by her sleeping child.And the voice of an angel in the stillness of the nightsang the law of all worlds. And the young mother heard as an echodeep inside […]
Edith Södergran: An Encounter
Three maidens went hand in hand across an open plain.They met a rider covered with a cloak.The first maiden stretched out her arms: love, come!The second maiden fell on her knees: spare me, death!The third maiden turned to the right:the […]
Edith Södergran: The Portrait
For my brief songs,the merrily moaning, the evening red,Spring gave me the egg of a waterfowl. I asked my beloved to paint my portrait on its thick shell.He painted a young onion in brown topsoil –and on the other side a […]
Edith Södergran: Hospital Visit
I bring you a sole flower-heavy branchfrom the vast forest of spring.You say nothing and starewith your deep, sick eyesat the light reflections in the glass.You say nothing and smile,for this spring moves by, past your heart.We have nothing more […]
Edith Södergran: The Rose
I am beautiful for I grew in the garden of my beloved.I stood in Spring showers and drank desire,I stood in the sun and drank glow –now I stand open and wait.
Edith Södergran: Summer in the Mountains
Simple is the summer in the mountains:the meadow blossoms,the old farm smilesand the brook’s dim babble speaks of found happiness.