edith sodergran the seven deadly sins

7/25/2019 EDITH SODERGRAN The Seven Deadly Sins

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS (1941)

LUST

CHORUS

The daylight land is the alien land.

There we go clad in mask and armour.

There we go wrapped in name and past,

the cloaks of shame and the crowns of honour.

Here in the only and most extreme act

we shed the nine skins of the ego,

rise with closed eyes in the spring,

naked as foetuses and gods we go.

aked as foetuses. The transfiguring night

!eneath the human we touch, shi"ering,

follow in the tracks of primordial ancestors

deep sea dim and phosphorous#glimmering.

The year#millions$ copulatory hunger

swallows and carries all earthly fate.

Human forms and names are transient

drops from the ecstasies$ spate.

%&$S 'O(C)

Stunned, ( awake # from what !osom$s greeting*

+hat ( percei"ed was no human meeting.

( led a life on my self$s sediments,

and ( !elonged to the elements.

+O%&$S 'O(C)

arkness#!linded , in torpor ( sank

"iolated !y phantoms, not !y any man.

They made me !urn, the desires of earth$s ghosts,

and ( ga"e !irth to myth$s monstrous hosts.

TH) CHORUS -continues

aked as gods. (n formless dawn

risen from the sea on the shore they stand.


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+ithout knowing their way and their realm

they take one hesitant step across the sand.

+ithout knowing what strength they possess

they !reathe gently, stop and turn around /uite.

The worlds awake from the touch of their !reath,

the depths and the heights come flaming alight.

+O%&$S 'O(C)

How hum!ly immense a pride can !e.

( am a holy image, a mere sign to see,

!ut translucent !ecause a 0ower needs me.

1our worship fills and far exceeds me.

%&$S 'O(C)

+hat !ecame of our earthly !eing$s weight*

1ou re"eal what life does not yet create.

( myself am fire. o one am (.

Our realm deludes. 2ehind o!3ects we lie.

TH) CHORUS

o you mean to close the final way*

o you mean to dam the final spate,

where our arid essence is watered !y

the worlds !eyond all earthly fate*

o you mean to choke in names all nameless

timeless fire from the creati"e pyre

until the consuming miracle yields !efore

the will and the goal to which you aspire*

CHOR&4)

O 4ord, how you will 3udge us yet

make ne"er us forget,

how wide your kingdoms reach.

(n crowding here and dearth

lust was, the same as death,

a sigh from depths that none can reach.

0R()

CHORUS


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How could you exist without us,

you great, slow one.

+here had you space to rise up from,

if not in our pride !egun.

1our shelter and your rock#gra"e

are here our hands, tight#wrenched.

&nd hear, we pray, though not for mercy,

with teeth together clenched5

( can manage.

&round us clinging tough and !lind

are li"es, swarming and ri"en.

To man alone, highest and lowest,

was empty despair gi"en.

That made most wondrously

has much too easy to !last.

Oh, !less our pride,

that holds to the last5

( can manage.

+hat had we else, that would endure

in lifeless wastes

and solace dare itself create

from unreal mists #

from chaos compel form

!orn of !urning homelessness,

gi"e tones to tears and words to screams

and sa"e itself in this5

( can manage.

Here weighs a scale to gi"e 3ustice

to life and death.

How hea"y it hangs, the cup of pain,

with our mutilated fates.

How light the other, with what is worth

our aspiration$s call.

0ut our holy pride in it, O 4ord,

then gently it will fall.

( can manage.


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CONCLUSION

CHORUS

ot e"en e"il

can you destroy,

O heart of ours,

!ut that you die,

not one !ase demon

to nothing lead,

!ut that you smite yourself,

eternal seed.

)ternal seed.

for no one has seen you flower,

only grow,

always and many times o"er.

&ll the way

to meaning in all the "oid6

4ife$s long yearning

grant to us unalloyed.7rant to us unalloyedthe day$s hea"iest hour,its stifling agony,for you are the morning star,

gleaming solace cool,within the mist a spark,!orne on se"en clouds,se"en dragons dark.

A FORM AM I

& form am (,

!ut the stuff the primordial flame.

8ire is my ga9e

and flames my hands.

(n drunkenness that creates

twine the fire$s tongues

insatia!ly around that play of lines

that is your !eing.


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8orm also you,

!ut form that is through#annealed,

ethereali9ed

raised from the depths$ sea of fire #

mirage and image,

half#created and growing

# like all gods #

!u!!le a!o"e chaos.Of all thingsthe gods are most transient,of all thingsworship is most enduring.O !u!!le !u!!lemoment and delusionand through the firethe goal of eternity6

O1SS)US &T TH) %&ST

2ind me, you warriors,

to the "essel$s mast,

draw tight the ropes

secure and fast6

Commands nor prayers

shall none harken to.

eath$s temptation for me,

The wax for you.

+ax in your ears,

the oar in your hand #

no songs can reach you

from danger$s land.

Until you are past and you

set me free again,

you ha"e no chieftain

and ( ha"e no men.

:ing &gamemnon,

hope of Hellas$ dugs,

would ha"e steered # with silent wa"e


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and firm earplugs.

&3ax would ha"e sailed

near the monsters$ call

!oldly among his !old ones

to his ruin and fall.

They all remain kings

for as long as they can.

one !ut me is a

lonely man.

Stronger than honour

and power and control

it lures me, the knowledge

( riskily stole.

(t cannot !e used

for e"ery day$s need,

it cannot !e gi"en away

cannot !e !e/ueathed.

2ind me well, you warriors,

!ut lea"e my ears alone6

&ll that$s heard, seen and felt

shall !ecome my own.

BE SILENT, HAVE TRUST

(n despair you cry5

+here is the wise word,

that alone will cure the world$s

poisoned sores*

&nd where is the thought,

oh, gi"e us the thought,

that leads out of time

where death$s spirit soars6

2e silent. Ha"e trust.

Our !eing is creation.

+e are in a deep league


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with that which wants to !e.

1our great despair

(s not an empty dread

sometimes in the depths it has

a note of agony.

The !lind dark suffers agonies

from secret dreams

that no one sees, and yet

they are near in all$s storm.

They cannot !e told.

They cannot !e thought.

They must first !e li"ed through

to !eing and form.o not ask for words,do not ask for thoughts,!ut ask for a share in the agonyfrom our root in earth interred.The Silent is thinkingin flesh and !lood and will,and will hurl perhaps at last like fireto you # your word.

THE TREES

&li"e as we are

and far far away,

so our word $understand$

!ecomes empty smoke and wind.

eeply inaccessi!le

to thought and sense,

though against our cheeks

your !ark feels harshly kind.

)yeless you shine

in delight and flowers.

Through what instruments

do you know your magnificence*

Through what secret,

creating knowledge


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ha"e you a share in the power

of "isions and scents*

4eaning against the trunk

we are hardly noticed,

do not slip in to your

inner world$s ring.

Or reach you, mirrored,

a scrap of our !eing,

to oursel"es unknown

and frightening*

Though no dou!t we were !orn

of the same ancestors,

not a glimpse of shared hours

our eyes ha"e found.

Too many ad"entures

ha"e di"ided us since,

too unknowa!le

is our simple ground.

0erhaps we still ha"e

a meeting to expect,

on the road where life

to soil has returned.

1et one more hand outstretched

!etween di"ided kin.

&nd we thank death

!ecause of that !ond.Our stuff, always !orrowed,we gi"e it !ack.%elt it down to your form,and take and gi"e6)xchanged !etween uslike friendly gifts,deep !eautiful unknownsister life6

HO+ C& R)4(&C) 4(')*

&round us all collapses,

and more will collapse yet,

until no stone is left


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to support our foot.

How can you still !elie"e,

who ha"e nothing to !elie"e in*

How can reliance li"e

so lacking any root*

(s it itself a root*

(s it itself the seed*

and does the tree of the world itself

grow out of it, then*

Then our fate is stored

with taciturn hearts.

2ecause of their silence

it may !e day again.

2ecause of their wholeness

chaos may flower

from miracles$ power # that says nothing

!ut wants to !e !elie"ed.

&ll things may !e smashed asunder.

&gain they may !e healed,

as long as it is li"ing,

our innermost seed.

Come, all that grows whole,

transparently self#e"ident,

to us, we who reckon

and are on watch each hour,

and learn that the day

we cease to reckon,

that is our li"es$ fulfilment

and our future power6

CHR(ST%&S ;


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The dead since times primordial

seek us as !efore.

(n our homes they take their seats

and us they remind

that in that olden time

for them too Christmas was a feast,

$+e come not with fear,

with solace we come.

+e saw your desertion

one dark autumn long.

How good to !e with you in here.

Sit !y the fire with us a while

+e knew the horror, we as well,

it was like yours, our despair.

+e stood with fro9en mouths

in the world$s night at our post,

and the sky$s stiffened wells

lay ice !lue with frost.

eath$s sting we came to know.

&nd death$s snow lay wide.

Then someone said5 +ait #

a morning star ( saw.

+e heard. +e !elie"ed,

+e lit flares in our distress.

&nd we stood up for the light#feast

in darkness and death.

1ou say5 >8ools$ flares6>

&nd if you can, then douse them.

2ut lift them rather and gi"e them

from us to the new race6$

# # #The empty winter skiesha"e smothered e"ery cry.2ut the souls listen endlessly,the dead and we.(n some corner hidden away!y a world to destruction worn,there is a child !eing !orn,a promised child on straw and hay.


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%&$S %U4T(04(C(T1

2eautiful is a strong !ody,

that clea"es a hard wa"e,

2eautiful, !eautiful is the child$s sleep

after tension playing ga"e.

2eautiful is the day of work

# hard !read, !roken and !lest #

and !eautiful an hour that forgets in wine

the future and the past.

+e were !orn of mothers of hea"en and earth

and of powers with no end in "iew,

nocturnal wills and wills of light

with names that no one knew.

%ay one of the many

not gain power o"er us,

though she !e of hea"en$s race

and shine in magnificence.

(n us a multiplicity li"es.

(t fum!les towards unity.

(ts capturing, gathering !urning#glass

we were !orn to !e,

7reat is man$s stri"ing,

great the goals it has set #

!ut much greater is man himself

with roots in uni"ersal night.So gi"e, that we shield a secret roomand ne"er a flame do lackon the altar of an unknown god,

that may tomorrow wake.

+) +HO O OT &R) TO S))

The few who dared to !e

# !lessed may they !e6 #


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ha"e !een maimed and slain all o"er again

!y us who dare not see.

arkened icons

e/ual, the same in si9e

hang images of the li"ing who !urn

cramped among much that is less.

The centuries ha"e smoothed

their strange features away,

as we oursel"es 9ealously smooth

day after day.

+e file and em!ellish

as !est we can and may,

until nothing distinguishes spirit now

from respecta!ility.

The young go in search

of the fire that !urned,

They go with empty eyes

that nothing ha"e found.They must suffer it all again.0oor ones, they6+e s/uandered the gains of the holy # wewho did not dare to see.

THE AVENGING ANGEL SPEAKS

7i"e me the dead part of your life.

( will !e sure to wake it.

The nights wait for our pastime.

+e will !e sure to !reak it.

Though your day was so !loodlessly empty,

( can compel it to !leed,

compel it, in shame and 3udgement,

to rise up from the dead.So, when day dawns and again you take hold,you will see what you ha"e earned,you will see the mark of a li"ing nightinto your temple !urned #witness that the time you wanted to cheatfrom mercy !ack you ha"e got


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and got it full to its flowing !rim #whether torment or 3oy, matters not.

TH)1 STO4) 1OUR THOU7HT8RO% 1OU

They stole your thought from you* # 1ou frighten me,

!lasphemer6

+ho wants to own the mind is the mind$s treacherous schemer6

eep must the soul !ow down to enter the kingdom$s doors.

0erhaps you can !ecome truth$s # !ut truth can ne"er !e yours.

DRINKING SACRIFICE

O"er rough red wine hea"y foreheads !ow.

(t is not wine that weighs them down.

The wine that frees our thoughts the most,

it frees the least our tongue.

4ike a secret !la9e, sacrificial fire

is rough red wine.

( alone know !efore what powers

that smoke arises fine.

( alone know from what worlds

( deri"e my drunkenness.

)ach and all stare past the rest

and listen to distant sighs.

)ach and all raise their glasses to things

that none of the others see,

in dark lands where re3oicing and grief

scarce ha"e meaning finally.So in secret ( raise here my red wine,

my sacrificial !la9e,to a pain that is mine and resem!les mostthe eternal consuming gale from the sea$s wa"es.

%&RSH +&)R)R


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ark is my land.

+anderer, who are you*

%arsh wanderer6

2lind lies my land.

+anderer, who are you*

( feel footprints fill themsel"es

with !lood from my inner self.

( would like to know your hands.

(f they are of fire that !urns,

let me feel it.

( would like to know your hands.

(f they are like cool lea"es,

then stroke them o"er the trees$ pain

and let the dead awake.

THE FLOWER BITTERNESS

8lower flower 2itterness,

how stand you now so full

of ripe gold honey

for all your !itter pall.

How sag you now with gifts,

the meadows$ almond flower

the modest, gently swathed,

could surely ne"er !ear,

Torment and !lessing #

each has his own.

( do not know life$s measure,

!ut know that you !ecame mine.

1our cup was like fire.

1our drink was like gall.

1ou offered se"en sorrows,

and ( drank them all.


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8lower flower 2itterness,how rich at last you growin heat#golden honeyresem!ling sunlight$s flow.Here,sated with sweetness,( stand in your clear gift$s rays.( will re3oice with &dam.

+ith ?o! ( will praise.

)')R (S TH) 8OR)ST H&001 &S O+...

e"er is the forest happy as now in sun and rain,

ne"er so o"erflowing with delicate scents and glitter,

ne"er so playfully consoling # only me it does not reach,

though ( seek and pray. %y pain is too !itter.

rink, my eyes, gold lights ( myself do not see.

2reathe deeply, my lungs, the wet moss$s "apour.

( am a dead stone. 8orget me, li"e for yoursel"es,

gather in golden cham!ers all that you can capture.

(naccessi!le that room where day$s har"est will ripen

soft with shimmers and scents and sighs. +hen the hour

is here

a thickened splendour will !urst its cell. O"er me will pour

fresh and wild as a waterfall, pain$s memory.

WILD APPLE

How is it possi!le*

How did such a glorious multiplicity grow,

such a fresh and fine and airy cloud of flowers,

such a forest of twisted wild !oughs,

such a rough !ark with green lichen

all of it only

from one and the same dark little kernel*

There it lay, all of it,

trunk, !ranches, lea"es and !ark and airy flowers,

pressed together in a heart#shape.2ut we are the wild apple$s reflection in water.8rom riches without !oundary and !ottom,from young days$ airy light fruit#!lossom,


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from a hundred roads$ forest of clinging !ranches,from the simple !ark of a simple life,we gather slowly,until it all lies still, condensed, closedwithin the kernel of a heart...How is it possi!le.

O+ (S TH) T(%) O8(%%)S) +&(T(7

ow is the time of immense waiting

!efore the leafing time,

now the trees trem!le in their inade/uate glory,

the !irches in purple, the aspens in green

and in gold#red the willows of the streams #

time of in"isi!le forces,when all is only !earing wom!s #

souls go pantingly hea"y,

and the twilight excites and wearies

like insatia!le trysts.

ow creation crouches, yearning$s leap in store #

!efore disappointment happens,

when the forest is as green as possi!le

and the world is as complete as possi!le

the trees and the people mum!le as in sleep5

$+e wish for more.$

HO+ C& ( S&1...

How can ( say if thy "oice is !eautiful.

( only know that it pierces

and makes me trem!le like a leaf

and tears me into rags and pieces.+hat do ( know of thy skin and thy lim!s.

(t only shakes me that they are thine,

so that for me there is no sleep or rest,

till they are mine.


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TO 1OU

1ou my despair and my strength,

you took all the life ( controlled,

and !ecause you demanded e"erything,

you ga"e !ack a thousandfold.

%1 0OOR 1OU7 TH(7...

&fraid of the dark, my poor young thing,

who met spirits of another kind,

among the white#clad e"er noticing

others of e"il mind,

now ( want to sing gentle songs to you,

they deli"er from fear, cramp, coercion rude.

They do not ask that the e"il should rue,

They do not ask for the fight of the good.

Then you shall know that all that li"es

deep inside is of the same kind.

&s trees and plants it can grow hesitantly,

!y its own law upwards inclined.

&nd trees may !e felled and flowers !e !roken

and !ranches die with their strength dried up,

!ut the dream is concealed # wills to !e awoken #

in e"ery li"ing drop of sap.

1OU &R) TH) R)SURR)CT(O

O8 %1 SOU4

1ou are the resurrection of my soul

to ecstasy in what is real,

so the air touches me hot as fire


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like a sea of glass that ( feel,

and the power of my eyes,

so that num!ly they catch a glimmer

of how all the colours flame out

in a drunken shimmer.

1ou are the strength of my will,

you gi"e me a fortitude

to wait and to act,

that ( ha"e ne"er had,

1es my senses$ hunger,

that incite me and pursue,

!ecomes re3oicing e"ery day

!ecause it is for you.1ou are the ripeness of my life.1ou make me whole.Out of my past now gatherseach thread and smallest dole.On a hundred different roads( ha"e walked and stri"ed.ow they meet. (t is towards youThat ( ha"e li"ed.

%&1 'O(C)S S0)&:

%any "oices speak.

1ours like water calls,.

1ours is like rain,

when through the night it falls.

Softly purls

in a fum!ling di"e,

slowly, hesitantly,

torturedly ali"e.

Trickles and strains,

trem!ling like a ground,

towards my skin,

!ehind e"ery sound,

wraps itself softly,

closes me in,


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fills my ears, whispering

memory$s refrain.( don$t want to sit silentwhere ( can$t come near you.( want to dwell and li"ewhere ( can hear you.

%any "oices speak.Through them all( hear only yourslike the night rain fall.

1OUR 'O(C)...

;

1our "oice5 in an old orchard a path half o"ergrownwith deep shadows and !right sun and !irdsong

sudden thrown,

a path of untamed secret life and !ree9e and loneliness #

how strangely lone and wild, it is ( alone who knows.

&nd when ( wake at night, in it ( waken then,

and ( grow lost in green transparent shadow play again.

There ( dwell for hours and hours and know that whom

you will follow and where you listen, here is my home.

@

1our "oice5 ( ha"e heard it for twenty years, and all that

you ha"e said

has lain sunk in me, !ut charged with power yet.

ow ( hear it word for word as yesterday, it fills night

and day.

(t was the warmth of my "eins. (t was my heart, !eating

away.

+hat are these depths in us, where the past exists, all*

Or is it only your !eing, your "oice ( recall*

1ou were my life$s fulfilment. How has its ripening passed*

& choked tree, a tree of agony, !urst into leaf at last.

=


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&ll say it5 your time is short, ( know.

( cannot imagine that you will e"er go.

There is no world to li"e in, where you do not li"e.

%y mind re3ects the miracle. (n my heart, !elief.

&44 TH(7S 1OU COT&(...

&ll things you contain, more than a mortal can thole.

1ou are light and darkness in a dou!le !owl.

How the one shimmers, naked and cool.

%other#of#pearl air o"er water of pale opal.

Seeing, seen,

ready for day$s gleam

dawns slowly open their mussel shell.

2ut dim and still does the other !rood,

also a mussel, though deeply there, where the sea is mute.

Un#!roken#up,

since creation closed

it protects the mother#sleep$s secret room.&ll things you are, the whole of my !eing$s goal.1ou are the day and the night in a dou!le !owl.

4(:A0(7 C&TH)R&4

8e!ruary ;


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&ll things are near. The past

is nothing.

The spirit that raised stone upon stone

like the dri"ing sap of temple pillars,

has sprung a new !ough.

8rom the images comes a flashing !rilliance

of inexora!le demand for sacrifice,

which our fathers heard and o!eyed.

That man there with the narrow mouth

ne"er sat happily !y the e"ening well,

as the herds !illowed wearily home

and a sorrow#dissol"ing twilight !urned.

He is fire. The conflagration he !odes,

god as much as young man.

&ll that is secret he sees through

sternly as only the young can.

High in the !right arches of his purity

he offers war.

O"er his forehead flame

%iddle &ges, young and hard.

((Centuries in kindred train,

prophet next to prophet,

darkly real towards skies

of sil"er air and nothing.

So solitarily essential

in the phantom of creation

man !ears his hea"y soul

to stone in the epochs$ cathedral. #

&nd their ga9e is distant

among what does not die,

and their features are closed shrines

with fro9en suffering for a lock.

(((


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So hea"ily strikes the light

that no dust can !ear it.

7o hence, light6 1ou crush

the clay you take as dwelling.

How many ha"e you "isited

since prime"al days #

and all all

prayed the same prayer5 mercy6

How many ha"e you wrestled with

and triumphed o"er

and consoled only with "isions$

confusing promises.

How many went in the dawn

from the wager with ?eho"ah

with the sum of their life

in their maimed hips.

+e saw their mo"ements

of ugly deformity

and thought5 &re they implements

for the light to use*

See, health$s sunlight,

that gently cures the world,

is powerful in the healthy,

!ut these are sick. #

+e saw their smile

and could not decipher it,

we saw their tracks,

which the legends relate.

Splendour of their hea"en

and splendour of their hell

sei9ed us like a drunkenness.

+ho knows what he will choose*

1es, who knows it still,

who knows the ways

that lead to the stone of the wise

and life$s red kernels.


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They risked their souls.

Then say, ?eho"ah$s mighty one,

ha"e you a cure for the race

under the stars of the fear of death*

The Tapestries

('

2ut as the plants unfold

where the fields of late lay empty,

the earth awoke in space$s spring

and slowly !egan to flower.

8rom fern forests and newt slime

life crept up the precipice.

There a human child kneelsand looks out o"er the depths.

How did wings grow there in the !irds$ feathers*

How was the chestnut$s stick raised,

which carefully and proudly !ore the finest candles

high a!o"e serpent and dragon*

+e know of the spring, that the power of the depths

cannot ha"e drained its source.

So let us percei"e in all that is

the creating wellsprings$ rising

and let go like ?o! on his torment$s heap

of 3ustice$s tricks

and lean our sick and tough hope

against the miracle that is still a miracle.

0RO4O7U) &T &SCHOO4 0R()7('(7

There are courtyards and lawns that ha"e rung so long

with cries and laughter and noisy games,

with shrill small "oices and "oices !reaking,

that e"en in solitude the stones echo.


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There are rooms where the walls themsel"es ha"e

a!sor!ed

so much raw healthy young life that it will ne"er go,

and perhaps some yawns and perhaps some fear,

and perhaps some of the excitement that makes the

hours too short #

and perhaps the times of endless listening

and the 3oy of disco"ery at old new wonders.

There are staircases that ha"e !een worn !y generations

of feet

in countless schools in countless lands

+hat a torrent has run !etween the school$s walls

like a ri"er rushing mightily !etween resting shores6

& ri"er of young spring energy and new opportunities,

still seething with unrest and fermenting /uestions,

goes forth !etween !anks which itself did not form,

with the future$s seeds in its rum!ling wa"es.

&nd the walls ask5 &re we only the past*

&re we the o!stacle that makes the energy !reak and

!e checked*

(s the inheritance we lea"e so o"erwhelming

that perhaps the future itself lets itself !e dammed*

2ut then there is a murmur from trees and grass and rain5

That which is truly future, nothing can dam6

+hat we ha"e gathered of experience, of dream and

hope and will

is too costly to die when our li"es are o"er.

+e !ore it to the ri"er, the young, strong ri"er,

which will perhaps take it towards the coming time.

&nd among all that we lea"e and all that it takes with us

there is much that will sink to the !ottom and !e forgotten,

!ut the !est we found and the richest we li"ed

are the seeds that ha"e energy and will !e preser"ed

and kept.

Thus in the great stream thought is !ound to thought

and will to will, as the hours stride on,


25/136

until generation after generation lets go of hands they

held

and goes to take up its task at last.

So they are !ound here among games and lessons and

dreams #

like links in the great community,

that stretches out seeking towards all that we dare to

hope #

the children of men to the whole of mankind.

S&') TH) CH(4R)

&ll too clearly, frighteningly clearly

we hear the crash of the Spanish shells.

7roaning in the wind, weeping in the rain

!reaks the peace on silent e"enings.

(n the midst of self#sufficient states

people are !itterly forced to learn5

the earth has shrunk and !ecome smallD

ne"er was all )urope so close.

8rom the unending hori9on

space closes tighter and tighter.

Soon when our children ha"e grown,

there will !e no recesses or distances left.

8ull of fear, with lips closed,

we wish luck on their future. # #

Children whose eyes ha"e drowned in horrors

will grow to !ecome their shadow and times.

Centuries of plague, times of pestilence

will one day roll across the lands.

7i"e that one day we may endure

where the health of our souls is concerned6

Terror and hate and the froth of the wild animal

creep like plague#poison o"er our minds.


26/136

He may !e thankful who has managed to heal

some wound among the most painful memories.Roof o"er the head, shelter against the cold,the !read that relie"es the naked distress,the warmth in the hand, the light in the "oice #these are weapons in a struggle against death.

They are all like circles around a stone5 they spreadfar out across the water$s surface.o one can know how far he will reach,only that he is fighting on the side of life.

THE CHILD

o worm, no seed in the wind

is armed more weakly against life$s peril,

no !a!y !ird is exposed

more helplessly to the mercy of the strong.

+hat daring of the hidden powers

to let themsel"es !e !orn !y human children

and pour the wine a!o"e all wines

into this !owl of thin temple#cork6

2ut in timid fear we approach

the eyes of the child, scarcely awake,

in which forms and colours are reflectedo"erwhelming, new, naked #

creators$ eyes that will tame the "isions

and slowly order the cosmos$s home,

di"ide the waters from the "ault a!o"e

and set earth$s fastness !etween them.

&nd in fear and trem!ling we approach

those "olcanic dawns

whose eruptions of fire and geysers

still rock us on slow swells5

then the day was deep and eternal,

strangely sated with a "iolent springD

life !urned intolera!ly,

like a sun in its !lue "eins.


27/136

Remorsefully they draw near to us,

the sunken lands, thoughtlessly a!andoned,

that hide our royal sceptres

and all that the %others intended as a miracle #

the earth$s magic healings,

spiders$ we!s in morning dew,

and the sacred energy of growth #

all !uried under the slag of the years.

&mong the !lind who seek power

in dead destruction,

the child walks like a sorrowless smile

of what makes ali"e.

On the day when the steel fails

and the peoples cry for the 0rimordial 8lood #

on that day the child will ha"e won,

on that day fate will change.

THOS) EU()T 8OOTST)0S2)H( %)

(f ( listen, ( can hear life flying

e"er faster now #

Those /uiet footsteps !ehind me #

death, it is you.

2efore, you were far away #

( held you all too dear.

ow, when ( long no more,

now you are there.

ear death, there is in your !eing

something that comforts strife5

what do you care if one$s grown great,

or wasted the whole of one$s life*


28/136

ear death. there is in your !eing

something that clears the air5

all that$s the same in the good and the !ad

you lay open, naked and !are.

8ollow me and let me hold your hand,

it calms one deep and well.

The !eautiful you make indispensa!ly great,

The ugly you make small.

(t$s as though you wanted something of me,

( present you want, ( guess5

a strange, small curious key #

the little word $yes$.

1es, yes, ( want to6

1es, yes, ( will6

%y piety ( lay down at your feet

so life may grow more, still.

AT THE BOTTOM OF THINGS

( read in the newspaper that someone had died, someone ( knew !y name.

She li"ed, like me, wrote !ooks, like me, grew old,

and now she is dead.

Think, to !e dead and ha"e left e"erything !ehindD

dread, terror and loneliness, and the unforgi"ing guilt.2ut a great 3ustice lies hidden at the !ottom of things.+e all ha"e a grace to expect # a gift of which no one

can ro! us.

WHERE THE DIVINING-RODDESCENDS

+here the di"ining#rod descends

goes forth the water$s "ein.


29/136

a centre for fate,

a serious one.

o not flee into dreams

of richer sward.

Here is your ground, and the powers

ha"e said their word.

(t may !come to pass, if you dig here,

that the heather$s mark

may !e watered to a pleasure#garden

and leaf#rich park.

(t may also come to pass

that your toil will !e repaid

with a few dark cracks

that winter green has made.

The one and the other

ha"e meagre weight

against your touching your own fate$s

li"ing plate,

where e"il power is !roken,

where creation takes place,

where you and the world grow

to a greater space.

o not think your dreams

will come true at last.

o not think you will regain

those meadows you lost.

+here the di"ining#rod descends

stern mystery dwells !elow.

There happens nothing of what

you expect and know.Take the shoe from your foot2e still, and watch the earth.Here you are granted a meetingwith the power of !irth.How deep the earth ferments.Her soul is like yours.Here a way is opened for youinto hers.


30/136

THUS DO WE DRIFT...

Thus do we drift, lost souls,

from camp#fire hole to camp#fire hole,

know nothing of our next rest

and nothing of the 3ourney$s goal #

know that night and day here alternate,

hea"y e"e and sunrise great in song,

and that our 3ourney still seems short

and yet too mercilessly long.

1es, we know more5 one sleepless night

we listen /uiet in fear unseen

to our inner !eing, to a murmur

as of a su!terranean stream

or of a shell$s faint roar

in which the whole sea$s heard,

and in our trem!ling we cease

to ask which way we are led.Thus do we drift, lost souls,from camp#fire hole to camp#fire hole,know nothing of our next restand nothing of the 3ourney$s goal,!ut know that our hearts are drawninexora!ly, without choice

in towards the sea of an unknown homethat murmurs deep in the seashell$s "oice.

THOSE DARK ANGELS...

Those dark angels with !lue glames

like flowers of fire in their !lack hair

know answers to strange !lasphemous /uestions #

and perhaps they know where the !ridge goes

from night$s depths to daylight #

and perhaps they know the ha"en of all unity #

and perhaps in the father$s house there is

a !right dwelling that has their name.


31/136

&8T)R )&TH

$+hat does it feel like when one gets wings, when one

is dead, say, mother*$

$8irst your !ack !ends, it grows !road and great.

Then it grows hea"ier and hea"ier. (t is as if one carried

a mountain.

There$s a shaking and !reaking in ri!s and !ack!one

and marrow.

Then it straightens up with a 3erk and !ears all, all.

Then one knows that one is dead now and li"es in a

new form.$

S4OTH

TH) &CCUS)R

To you first, you who !elie"e you are innocent,

you slothful ones6

& hea"y !urden !inds you to yoursel"es,

hea"ier than coarse !read and hea"ier than the earth can

manage.

On you the guilt for all the e"il that was not pre"ented6

On you the guilt for all the good that was not done6

& hea"y !urden6 2ecause of you

the world is going under.

CHORUS

2y our own hearts we were forsaken.

2y their steep walls is our !ed for the night.

+e are those doomed !y life to a li"ing death,

thirsting in trance for the springs$ water !right.

Our arms we twine hard around our knees,

stilled !y tension and not !y repose.


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&!o"e the wall$s crest float the fresh trees.

2eneath their roots we hear the springs oo9e.

There are our li"es. There are our souls.

1ou who come punishing, what will you do to deli"er us*

(f you know the way in, then all will !e well.

2ut if we go away from the springs, the desert storm will

shri"el us.

2ring no pitchers to those hot, dry mouths6

e"er will we raise our hands for action,

ne"er # until we drink from the innermost wells.

2y our hearts$ walls shall await transformation.

SO4O

1ou cry out. +ithin me echoes

an answer faint.

!ut deep in all my "alleys

a!horrence remains.

Someone there is, one solitary

out of all my folk,

willing to ser"e you, crier,

to interpret, support.

2ut you see, ( fear attack

in the soul$s world,

the stupidity of the strong

who con/uer !y the sword.

4et my manifoldness

slowly heal away,

then one day perhaps each drop of !lood

may answer your cry.

How incon/uera!le would he !e

in self#clear !elief,

who could grow into one

in ripening peace.

How powerless from his li"ing skin

would the day$s dust fall.

How mighty in silence he would glide

from the great noise of it all.


33/136

CHOR&4)&ll that is split and scatteredyearns to !e healed and made !etterand asks for faithfulness yet.1ou li"e in our midst, around us.1ea, though our dou!ting !ound us,4ord, you were hidden in it.

TH) S)') )&41 S(S

8ragment of a Cantata

Scene5 2efore 7od$s Throne

(TROUCT(O

CHORUS (

How long, how long, how long*

estroy us6 estroy us6

CHORUS ((

& little time, a little time, a little time6

Ha"e mercy6

Ha"e mercy6

TH) &CCUS)R -recitati"e

(t is time to speak. (t is truly time to speak.

CHORUS ((

Ha"e mercy6

CHORUS (

estroy us6

TH) &CCUS)R -recitati"e

Out of the darkness ( rise !efore your throne,

(, the &ccuser.

8rom generation to generation we sa"ed our madness$s hope.

&s a newly concei"ed child lies hidden and is scarcely there,

so you lay hidden in our inner !eing, O great madness.

8rom generation to generation we were ready to deny what we

heard and saw.

+ho wants to !e e"il* +ho wants to !e what man in reality is*

8rom generation to generation we were nothing !ut our secret


34/136

madness,

our un!orn.

O 4ord, how near you are to that which does not exist6

2ut look after us6 +e cannot endure any longer.

estroy the e"il that does not care to deny itself.

estroy our madness$s dream that is not a!le to make itself

real.

estroy us.

CHORUS (

How long, how long, how long*

estroy us6

estroy us6

CHORUS (

+e are your flock,

4ord,whom you failed #

Ha"e trust6 was your command #

and worse we fared.

8rom e"il$s mists

no light rose aloft,

out of the thunder

no murmur soft.

+e /uaked in the desert

a!andoned, alone

with harsh commandments

written in stone.

They !ecame our water,

they !ecame our !read.

2ut around our piety

night lay dead.

+e tra"elled the roads,

struck !y 7od$s ire,

messengers we.

la"ed in fire.

?udgement, expiation,

the "oice !ade thus.


35/136

&nd the 3udgement came true,

!ut ne"er the trust.

+e sang in the fields

in re3oicing turned

towards new stars

that like signals !urned.

O dream, o hope,

how richly you flowed,

O promise$s promise,

so fraudulent, !road.

One prayer, one only

remains to us5

strike e"en harder,

you that cause pain to us6

8old space together

and extinguish time,

annihilate all

and make peace come6

How long, how long, how long6

estroy us6

estroy us6

SO4O -from Chorus (

+e know that the !itter fates

did not come to us first.

+ho will say in suffering$s flood5

ours is greatest6

&gainst times of plague and hunger$s years

and the mothers$ cry

in a!andoned towns #

what do we weigh6

Oh, we were used to making

!older demands,

!ut sensed that good was what life ga"e

with merciful hands.

The dead know, they rest in peace,

how much the heart can thole. # # #


36/136

2ut we despair of man

and of man$s goal.

+e !elie"ed that !y its own power

the truth won through.

2ut a stronger lure is lies$

inciting !rew.

The drunken souls maim themsel"es

for the idol State,

and trust drowns in mistrust

and lo"e in hate.

So we are the shreds that were wasted,

the hammer that !roke.

Come, sweep your smithy empty and clean

with !room and rake6

4ight the forge again to create

that which is not us6

& gleam was your spirit in man,

a gleam # and gone past.

CHORUS (

estroy us6

estroy us6

CHORUS ((

& little time, a little time, a little time6

Ha"e mercy6

Ha"e mercy6

(t must not end so

cruelly unreconciled.

ot so long as on earth still

life is spared, used mild.

7rant one more !rief term

for the world$s wheel to turn6

So dark the night persists,

perhaps a new one may !urn6

(f this is said presumptuously,

then forget all words

!ut let us !e silent and endure our way,


37/136

like grass close to earth$s swards.

Too deep the shame we saw,

too meaningless the agony.

On expectancy we li"ed #

waiting let us die6

Ha"e mercy6

Ha"e mercy6

SO4(T&R1 'O(C) -from Chorus ((

4ord of the macrocosm,

lord of the microcosm,

you who !urst all measures,

great and small,

you alone know

how measures and figures defraud,

you know that life is

what life always was.

He that walks o"er !attlefields

and hears distress$s cry,

the more he sees and hears,

grows his agony.

2ut there is no sum to !e had

of the world$s woe5

he only slowly draws near to

the contents of one soul.

The world$s life is no sum,

!ut the way that souls came,

no goal in sight,

!ut con/uered in clear#eyed shame.

1ou smile at our num!ers and figures.

4et earth$s purgatory go on !urning6

4et us preser"e all all

for the 3oy of o"ercoming6

CHORUS ( -dying away CHORUS (( -dying away

estroy us6 Ha"e mercy6

estroy us6 Ha"e mercy6


38/136

For the Tree' S!"e #$%&(

O+H)R)

( am sick with poison. ( am sick with a thirst for which nature has not created any drink.

8rom e"ery field leap streams and springs. ( stoop down and drink from the earth$s "eins its sacrament.

&nd the hea"ens o"erflow with holy ri"ers. ( stretch up and feel my lips wet with white ecstasies.

2ut nowhere, nowhere...

( am sick with poison. ( am sick with a thirst for which nature has created no drink.

+&40UR7(S (7HT

&t last ( stand near the mountain of the fates.&ll around like stormclouds crowd formless !eings, creatures of the twilight,!lack#winged,phosphorous#eyed.Shall ( stay* Shall ( go* The road lies dark.(f ( stay peacefully here at the foot of the mountain,then no one will touch me.Calmly ( can see their struggle like a play of the mist in the air, myself merely a lost eye.2ut if ( go, if ( go, then ( shall know nothing more.8or the one who takes those steps

life !ecomes legend.

%yself fire( shall ride on coiling snakes of fire.%yself wind( shall fly on winged wind#dragons.%yself nothing,myself lost in the storm( shall fling myself forth dead or li"ing, a fate future#hea"y.

)OU CALL FOR PEOPLE

1ou call for people of great stature. +hat gi"es great stature

to a person*

To !ecome nothing and forget oneself for that which is

greater than she.


39/136

The unrepentant call out. They themsel"es would grow

into giants

the moment they !owed their knees in the shadow of

the immense things.

2ut raise your "oices until the gods awake, until new gods

rise up and answer6

+hen no one asks for people any more, then your

people will !e here.

CH)RU2

&lso you, who suffer the agonies of e"eryone$s condemnation,also you are called to your place among the cheru!im #

with lion$s feet, with wings of sun,with "enera!le human head5!east#angel.They call after you5 $(mpure, impure6$2ecause they were ne"er afflicted !y purity.8lame, gather your sparks out of the corners,the forge awaits, and the hammer that welds you to lightningwill teach you the lightning$s swift purityand your name among the cheru!im.

TH&T HOUR

o !reathless summer night skyreaches so far into eternity,no lake, when the mists lighten,mirrors such stillnessas that hour #

when loneliness$s limits are effacedand the eyes !ecome transparentand the "oices !ecome simple as windsand there is nothing more to hide.

How can ( now !e afraid*( shall ne"er lose you.

TH) (7HT$S ))0 '(O4OC)44O

The night$s deep "ioloncellohurls its dark re3oicing out across the expanses.The ha9y images of things dissol"e their form


40/136

in floods of cosmic light.Swells, glowing long,wash in wa"e upon wa"e through night#!lue eternity.1ou6 1ou6 1ou6Transfigured weightless matter, rhythm$s !lossoming foam,soaring, di99ying dream of dreams,!lindingly white6( am a gull, and on resting, outstretched wings( drink sea#salt !lissfar to the east of all ( know,far to the west of all want,and !rush against the world$s heart #!lindingly white6

1)S, O8 COURS) (T HURTS

1es, of course it hurts when !uds are !reaking.

+hy else would the springtime falter*

+hy would all our ardent longing

!ind itself in fro9en, !itter pallor*

&fter all, the !ud was co"ered all the winter.

+hat new thing is it that !ursts and wears*

1es, of course it hurts when !uds are !reaking,

hurts for that which grows

and that which !ars.

1es, it is hard when drops are falling.

Trem!ling with fear, and hea"y hanging,

clea"ing to the twig, and swelling, sliding #

weight draws them down, though they go on clinging.

Hard to !e uncertain, afraid and di"ided,

hard to feel the depths attract and call,

yet sit fast and merely trem!le #

hard to want to stay

and want to fall.

Then, when things are worst and nothing helps

the tree$s !uds !reak as in re3oicing,

then, when no fear holds !ack any longer,

down in glitter go the twig$s drops plunging,


41/136

forget that they were frightened !y the new,

forget their fear !efore the flight unfurled #

feel for a second their greatest safety,

rest in that trust

that creates the world.

& ST(44)SS )F0&)

& stillness expanded, soft as sunny winter forests.

How did my will grow sure and my way o!edient to me*

( carried in my hand an etched !owl of ringing glass.

Then my foot !ecame so cautious and will not stum!le.

Then my hand !ecame so careful and will not trem!le.

Then ( was flooded o"er and carried !y the strength from fragile

things.

1OU &R) TH) S))

1ou are the seed and ( your soil.

1ou lie in me and grow.

1ou are the child expected.

( am your mother now.

)arth, gi"e your warmth6

2lood, gi"e your sap6

&n unknown power re/uires today

all the life ( ha"e had.

The flowing warm wa"e

knows no dam on earth,

wider it wants to create,!reaks its way forth.

That is why it hurts to the li"ing /uick

inside me now5

something is growing and !reaking me #

my lo"e, it is you6


42/136


43/136

and its rind is the thin !lue mem!rane that stretches

!u!!le#round,

and its 3uice is the sweet and fragrant, streaming, !urning

torrent of sunlight.

&nd out into the transparent uni"erse ( leap like a swimmer,

su!merged in a !aptism of ripeness and !orn to a power of

ripeness.

Consecrated to action,

light as a !urst of laughter

( clea"e a golden sea of honey that desires my hungry hands.

8&R)+)44

( would like to ha"e woken you to a nakedness like a naked

e"ening in early spring,

when the stars !rim o"er

and the earth !urns !eneath melting snow,

( would like to ha"e seen you 3ust once

sink in the darkness of creati"e chaos,

would like to ha"e seen your eyes like wide#open space,

ready to !e filled,

would like to ha"e seen your hands like flowers unfolded,

empty, new, in expectancy.

1ou are going, and nothing of this ha"e ( gi"en you.

( ne"er reached to where your !eing lies !are.

1ou are going, and nothing of me are you taking with you #

lea"ing me to defeat.

&nother farewell ( remem!er5

we were hurled from the cruci!le like a single !eing,

and when we parted, we no longer knew

which was ( and which was you...

2ut you # like a !owl made of glass you ha"e left my hand,

as finished as only a dead thing is and as changea!le,

as without any memories other than the light imprints of fingers

that are washed away in water.


44/136

( would like to ha"e woken you to a formlessness like a

formless flickering flame

that finds at last its li"ing form, its own...

efeat, oh, defeat6

O+ ( :O+

ow ( know how much you hid and kept silent a!out.

That was your shell.

2ut why ha"e you hidden yourself so well from me*

The thought grinds still.

( know. ( remem!er5 one single case,

where 3udgement was mine to wield #

and then your inner world$s enchanted land

was fore"er concealed.

&s long as our lo"e has one chance left,

if e"en only one,

that long will our lo"e !e a closed hand #

and to us 3ustice !e done.

M) SKIN IS FULL OF BUTTERFLIES

%y skin is full of !utterflies, of fluttering wings #

they flutter out across the meadows and en3oy their honey

and flutter home and die in sad small spasms,

and not a grain of pollen is distur!ed !y light feet.

8or them the sun exists, the hot, immeasura!le, older than the

ages...

2ut under skin and !lood and inside the marrow

hea"ily hea"ily imprisoned sea#eagles mo"e,

!road#winged, that ne"er let go of their prey.

How would your tumult !e in the sea$s spring storm*

How would !e your cry, when the sun annealed yellow eyes*


45/136

Closed is the ca"e6 Closed is the ca"e6

&nd !etween the claws twist white as cellar sprouts

the ner"es of my innermost !eing.

THE TREE BENEATH THE EARTH

There grows a tree !eneath the earthD

a mirage pursues me,

a song of li"ing glass, of !urning sil"er.

4ike darkness !efore light

must all weight melt,

where only one drop falls of the song from the lea"es.

&n anguish pursues me.

(t oo9es out of the earth.

There a tree suffers deeply in hea"y layers of earth.

Oh, wind6 Sunlight6

8eel that agony5

the promise of fragrance of paradise miracles.

+here do you walk, feet, that tread

so soft or hard

that the crust cracks and yields up its prey*

8or the tree$s sake, ha"e mercy6

8or the tree$s sake, ha"e mercy6

8or the tree$s sake ( call you from the four points of the

compass6

Or must we wait for a god # and which one*

OUR E)ES ARE OUR FATE


46/136

Our eyes are our fate.

So lonely you !ecome, poor eyes,

with stars that refuse to ha"e mercy

in a li"ing, earthly way.Had ( seen less,

( would think other thoughts,

and an outcast grows slack,

a!andoned to the 3ust.

Holy, holy, holy

is the truth, the terrifying,

( know it, ( !ow down,

and it has a right to e"erthing.

2ut flesh and !lood shi"er,

the li"ing seeks life,

and warm is humans$ company

and cold their contempt.

&nd praying ( wander

among free9ing light#years,

seeking for help

ro rise from my gra"e.

Remem!er with ardent tendernesseyes far away,

also those that are lost

in the sea of loneliness.Then ( cannot complain.Then ( must gi"e thanks.+ith them ( ha"e sharedwhat ( know, what ( remem!er.&nd through the darkness ( sensehome and company.2elo"ed sister eyes61ou existed. 1ou exist.

CONFESSION

e"er meant to !e a re!el,

and yet it was forced on me.

+hy is my fate not pri"ate*


47/136

+hy can ( not let it !e*

Or, if now ( must fight,

why is there torment there*

+hy not with sounding music,

when at last ( am forced to dare*

2lood of my !lood, that 3udged me harshly

and cast me out into shame,

( knew when ( was e3ected,

that ( !roke on a whole all the same,

felt a sacred communion

!ehind the condemning words,

knew with anguish5 you are ( #

and was !owed down to the earth.

2ut as ( lay and !elie"ed myself mute,

( heard the darkness whine.

Souls from the same torments$ room

were !reathing !y my side.

( heard my own cry for help

rise up from deserts "oid,

knew with dread5 ( am you #

and could not !e /uiet.

Cowardly, cowardly, thrice cowardly,

&ll the same, ( must fight,

!e struck to the ground and rise again

with all my ner"es snapped.

must feel like !randing irons

the 3udgements of the stark #

and o!ey and o!ey a scorching fire

that !lossoms out of the dark.

PRA)ER TO THE SUN


48/136

%erciless one with eyes that ha"e ne"er seen the dark6

4i!erator who with golden hammers !reaks !locks of ice6

Sa"e me.

Straight as thin lines the flowers$ stems are sucked into the

heights5

nearer to you will their calyxes trem!le.

The trees hurl their strength like pillars towards their glory5

only up there

do they spread out their light#thirsty leaf#arms, de"oted.

%an you drew

from an earth#fixed stone with !lind ga9es

to a walking swaying plant with hea"en$s wind a!out his

forehead.

1ours is stalk and stem. 1ours is my !ack!one.

Sa"e it.

ot my life. ot my skin.

O"er the outer no gods dispose.

+ith extinguished eyes and !roken lim!s

he is yours, who li"ed erect,

and with the one who dies erect

you are there, when darkness swallows darkness.

The rum!ling rises. The night swells.

4ife shimmers so deeply precious.

Sa"e, sa"e, seeing god,

what you ga"e.

1OU7 +(44S +H()

1oung wills whine

like masterless spears.

8ear has hurled them

into space$s spheres.

Trem!ling with !attle


49/136

and strength in surfeit

they seek targets to strike

they seek powers to worship.

2ut wills that ripen,

they !ecome trees and strike root,

ready to shield

a land at your foot,

a small stretch of ground,

!ut necessary, like life,

where something precious grows,

torn !y the winds$ strife.

(f the glade seems narrow

against space without end

and the tree perhaps lifeless

against spears that !lind,

then forget not the leaf

with its life#green colour,

and forget not the sap

that seethes through the marrow.

2e not afraid, !e still

that har"est night,

when the "oices say5

$1our !ounds are set.

1ou too shall !e silent

among the watching faithful.

1ou also shall strike root,

and !ecome tree, and ripen.$

TH) OOR+&1

Too many times ha"e ( passed through the doorway.

(t rises so high and is erased in sunlight,

and under the arch one hears passing

eternal winds in eternal spaces.

The threshold is made of promise#stones, the staircase to an

altar,


50/136

to which he slips through who consecrates himself to a gift

with his past time and his time to come

and a will that is whole.

Too many times ha"e ( passed through the doorway.

&nd yet ( pray5

+atchman at the door, lord of all !eginning,

let me through6 ( still ha"e strength.

&s truly as ( ne"er hid anything away,

take, !ut take to the last fragment.

The day ( di"ide, the day ( reckon,

!ar my way and cast me into the melting#o"en.

&ll is a door. &ll is a !eginning.

The axle of life is in your hands.

+hole ( pass under the di99ying arch,

and eternal winds in eternal spaces

drink my gift.

(144

1our "oice and your footsteps fall soft as dew on my

working day.

+here ( sit there is spring in the air around me from your

li"ing warmth.

1ou flower in my thought, you flower in my !lood, and (

wonder only

that my happy hands do not !lossom into hea"y roses.

ow the space of the e"eryday closes around us two, like a

soft, gentle mist.

&re you afraid of !ecoming a prisoner, are you afraid of

drowning in the greyness*

o not !e afraid5 in the e"eryday$s innermost depth,

in the heart of all life,

there !urns with /uietly humming flames a deep, secret

festi"al.


51/136

8OR TH) HOUR O87R)&T HU%(4(&T(O

8or the hour of great humiliation ( would also gi"e thanks,

the hour when one sees that one is naked

and without a muddying "estige of pride

lets oneself !e arranged

like a speck of dust in the gleam from wondrous worlds #

wondrous e"erything, wondrous health and life,

wondrous shelter, !read and water,

and more than anything wondrous the undeser"ed fa"our

of a human !eing$s eternally esta!lished trust.

01R)

Transparent, !right and ardent,

!eautiful mantle, flare,

slip your way close as water

round my !ody, waiting here.

( stand !ound and /uiet,

ha"e no unshed defiance.

Ha"e no resistance left,

no futile strugglings.

Thus in anguish without air

comes the peace that waiting !rings.

Here all hope is laid o"er,

wants nothing other.

4ike an aspen leaf my !ody,

my soul like a flickering flame,

and there far away inside

( am free all the same.

7reat silence mo"es me

!eyond all that destroys me.


52/136

('U4)R&24)

(n"ulnera!le, in"ulnera!le

is he that grasps the primordial saying5

There is no happiness and unhappiness.

There is only life and death.

&nd when you ha"e learnt it and ceased to chase the wind

and when you ha"e learnt it and ceased to !e frightened

!y the gale

then come !ack and teach me one more time5

There is no happiness and unhappiness.

There is only life and death.

( !egan to repeat it when my will was !orn,

and will cease to repeat it when my will has ceased to !e.

The secret of the primordial sayings

we ac/uire until our death.

:O+4)7)

&ll the cautious ones with long nets

meet with the sea$s giant laughter.

8riends, what do you seek on the shore*

:nowledge can ne"er !e captured,

can ne"er !e owned.

2ut if, straight as a drop,

you fall into the sea to dissol"e,

ready for any transformation #

then you will awake with mother#of#pearl skin

and green eyes

on meadows where the sea$s horses gra9e

and !e knowledge.

+&R8 0()


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Here in eternal gales

dwarf pine works its way up from the stone,

!ends wearily,

knots itself defiantly,

creeps su!dued.

2lack against the e"ening$s stormy sky

twisted ghostly outlines are drawn.

%onster is sei9ed !y loathing

for monster.

& groaning passes through the torn crowns5

Oh, to look one single time

straight towards the light,

to rise, a royal oak,

a !oyish !irch,

a golden "irgin maple.

Hide your dreams, cripple.

Here are the outermost skerries. &s far as the eye can see5

dwarf pine.

THE MOUTHS

&round me float terri!le mouths.

The su!ur!an train is thudding.

These are mothers.

%ouths of predatory fish,

locked and tensed in greedy fear5

to eat or !e eaten.

Themsel"es eaten away -no one has noticed

they lug their entrails in string !ags.

ead eyes, dead fear,

mouths of predatory fish.

This is the lo"er.

0aint#swollen mushroom mouth

sucks for prey.

The shame of ha"ing gi"en herself, the shame of the cheated


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sucks for re"enge of a thousand triumphs,

is ne"er sated,

settles in layers of tortured impudence

around a wet mushroom mouth.

This is the pious man,

who with holy pursing

hides and denies his lips.

They cannot !e seen, do not exist #

7od himself cannot see them.

+hy is he afraid of his lips*

+hat do they look like when he is asleep*

This is the happy woman,

she who !ecame a possessor.

&mong all those who struggle

she is the one who pre"ailed.

o le"er will e"er force open those 3aws,

screwed tight around life$s pri9e.

2ut o"er there !y the window,

half#open,

flowers a mouth that captures nothing.

+hat do you !reathe o"er the wide world,

so world#estranged*

1ourself*

+hen will you !e scared down there into the deep

to predatory fish

and sucking mouths,

snatch wildly after hunted prey,

slash desperately at the others*

Tomorrow,

if you want to li"e.

So ( will take my staff and wander

and seek another world for you,

a world where mouths are allowed to !e flowers

and !reathe like flowers

their life$s !reath

and flow like flowers


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from deep sources

and stand like flowers

happily open.&round you snap our deep#sea mouths.The su!ur!an train is thudding.

SEA PRA)ER

Sea swell, come washing,

let me taste that sound$s round, salty flow,

the sound that was gi"en me

as primordial name aeons and aeons ago6

+ords that no mortal

lips can tell

lie hidden

in the fresh, cold swell.

4ong, too long

( star"ed on human words too easily told.

( want to rise up,

( want to satisfy my mouth at my mother$s !oard.

4ike a child in loathing$s remorse

lost far away to roam,

( turn hungrily round

to the songs of my home.4et me drinkthe speech of speech from a dull roar that ne"er a!ates.4et me clearto your resting depth of light that creates.+ithin soul and spirit( hear your song.Rise in my !lood, and flowerin my tongue6

TH) +&1 (S &RRO+

The way is narrow that two must go,

inhumanly narrow, it can seem sometimes,

and yet it is a human way, e"en so.


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8rom !uried things$ primordial slime

rise monsters woken !y the warmth,

and !ar the way where you would clim!.

o flight can make you free at last.

They appear again !y new waysides.

1ou ha"e no choice. 1ou must go past.

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

The way is steep that two must go,

a way of degradation, it can seem sometimes,

and yet is a way of "ictory, e"en so.

4onely path goes round in rings,

the same mirage in the same sand,

the same thirst for far#off things.

8or two that stri"e, one gain know (,

more solid, hea"ier than the hermit$s dreams5

the difficult growth to reality,

yes, all the way in to the innermost core,

where the person grows out of splintered ner"es

and !ecomes a root and a mountain there.

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

The way is long that two must go,

a lost way, it can seem sometimes,

and yet has its goals and signposts, e"en so.

Has its angels, in lightning dressed.

They touch our dust with !urning hand,

and hea"y chains !ecome !ree9es and mist.

+ith !urning feet they touch earth$s floor,

and create it anew in the morning glow

and full of health and solace and cure

and full of power o"er approaching fate

and intimate light, that two ac/uire.


57/136

TH) +&)R)R ( TH) )S)RT

1ou weigh with false !alances

and measure with false gauges,

not !efore the /adi, who 3udges criminals,

!ut !efore &llah, &llah, !lessed !e his name,

he who has created life.

& thousand dates you !uy for one small pearl,

!ut (, who hungered in the desert,

am weary of my pearl#sewn !elt,

that gi"es no nourishment,

and (, who pined away in the sand,

will not reco"er the splendour in my dagger hilt,

decked with 3ewels

that slake no thirst.

Still in this city of minarets, far from the desert,

( will !ow not !efore those proud portals,

those golden gates,

!ut !efore those lowly, those out#of#the#way wells

to where dusty herdsmen lead their herds,

when they !ring milk in the e"enings.

)OUR WARMTH

1our warmth, your tender warmth

( ask to share,

that streamed long !efore man

on earth was there.

(n the deep primordial forest$s

downy !ird$s nestthat same protecti"e warmth !ore

life$s founding rest.

8rom anguish#!urning hea"ens

we sink down where

in the nest$s darkness, life


58/136

asks nothing more.

8or the clouds$ games are a mirage

and mirror spray,

!ut all that is !orn and !ears

is what depths gi"e away.ay dawns, and the skies resoundwith rushing of wings.The soaring !ird re3oices5On light ( li"e6 he sings2ut hidden in the silence restshis weal and woe.1our warmth, your deep warmthgi"es me a soul.

LEGEND

O"er the city$s sighing towers

sank all the earth$s distress5

fire, plague and hunger,

war and sudden, cruel death.

The people thronged in the churches,

!owed their knees in fear,

heard the priests pray to 7od

for strength his penance to !ear.

The mothers !y the well

despaired, and help they missed.

$8or the children$s sake, for the children

mercy must exist.

Though in sin they were !orn,

to us they are "ery dear,

they are much dearer to us

than hea"en$s glory in there.$

& white#haired stranger,

one step !efore the rest,

!eckoned them to follow,

!egan to wander thence.

Swarming out through the gates

more and more followed on.


59/136

(n the city$s midst stood a house.

& staircase there led down.

Hard#trodden floor of earth,

stool and wooden !owl.

Clad in a cloak of hair

a man knelt in that hole.

Hum!le "eneration

!urned in e"ery ga9e5

$The city is wealthy yet6

Here a holy man li"es and prays.

There in intercession

his face is upward#turnedD

the marks in his careworn features

!y our sins ha"e there !een !urned.$

2itterly the old one laughed.

$+hat is it you !ehold*

& great, holy lo"e,

and !eyond that, nothing more*

& face$s open !owl

of patience, !lessed, sane,

that rises up in hunger

towards the flood of pain #

an ardent spirit$s chalice

of !leeding ru!ies that shine,

waiting here de"outly

for the 4ord$s wrath$s wine #

a desire to suffer

the !elo"ed$s worst punishment ##

and does no one see the lightning

down from hea"en sent*

The city ga"e an echo

and in the same sound shook,

when he, the man strong in prayer,

his lord su!dued.

0ull up all the poppies

that ask for springtimes of pain6


60/136

Cut down all the !lack trees

that yearn to !ear tears$ rain6$

Then from the crowd there stepped

a man full of fiery dread,

felled the old one to the ground #

she fell and there lay dead.They crossed themsel"es, they crept away,the daughters and sons of men.&nd up to hea"en$s angry "aultthe holy man$s prayers rose again.

ETERNIT)

&n eternity long

our summer was then.

+e roamed in sunny days

that had no end.

+e sank in fragrant green

depths without floor

and felt no fear

of e"entide$s hour.

+here did our eternity go*

How did we forgetits holy secret*

Our day !ecame too short.

(n strife we form,

(n spasm we rhyme

a work that shall !e eternal #

and its essence is time.

2ut still timeless drops

fall into our arms

at a time when we$re a!sent

from goals and names,

when the sun falls silent

o"er straws there alone,

and all our stri"ing seems to us

like a game and a loan.


61/136

Then we sense that conditionwe once recei"ed5to !urn in the momentthat li"ing !e/ueathed,and forget the temporalthat lasts and endures,for creation$s second,

that no gauge e"er nears.

The He!rth $%**

)(C&T(O

Here on Uppsala$s plains, remote and cold,in the winter nights we ha"e often strolled.Silent we walked. The plain lay near!y.

The stars had flamed since eternity.

The stars flamed, frightening, mute,Side !y side we went, strangers, on foot,di"ided in stri"ing, di"ided in eye,ear to us !oth were the plain and the sky.

Once folk the ancient hearths did raisehere in the far#off worlds$ shimmering ga9e.8ire against fire in time no one knowsgathered their flocks while the earth fro9e.

Here fields were ploughed !y the first to plough,ploughed while in forests the wol"es did howl.Here on the sacred hearths glowing redfrom the corn was !aked a coarse, hard !read.

Here stood the court, where crowds made sacrifice,full of dread in the threat of a long winter$s ice,full of wailing under "aults with light a#shake,when round earth uni"ersal night did /uake.

See how the lights on the plains twinkle cold,fighting the dark that the winter nights hold6The night is unending, !lown !ark, the earth$s.

7i"e me your hand6 +e$re the !rood of the hearths.

;.

2y ice#walls and ice#silenceis peace protected in my day!reak land,where the air trem!les, pale with hungerfor sun#life and sun#!rand.


62/136

The thorn#thickets in fearful waitingin hollow trunks hard round close inall the flames that pray and !egto soon !urst forth in !lossoming.

1ou know the word, you alone.

Speak, speak and wake my land68ree the trees from their day!reak anguish,light the air with your lifted hand62lossoms shall rain for your foot to trample,sun!eams dance when smiles you pour.Speak, speak6 ( desire to !lossomyou to happiness, and nothing more.

Silent is space, pale with hunger.Stiff and cold is my closed hand.2y ice#walls and ice#silenceis peace protected in my day!reak land.&nd well ( know that the magic word,

it is ne"er said, ( will ne"er !e free.%ute your narrow lips closewhen proud you stride like a deer past me.

@.

The whole of my soul ( ha"e fixed to one thought,hard, hard, so ( felt it with my hand,the whole of my soul ( ha"e hurled through the airto you, far away,(f you see it lie like an asteroid fallen,still after flight glowing in the sand,if you walk past it in your "aulting rhythm.then you are likely not thinking of me.

The whole of my soul ( ha"e fixed to a single thought,the whole of my soul lies hea"y !efore your feet.( myself am so empty it hurts and aches.1ou, you my friend6o you not notice, or will you not noticethe thing that$s !een torn from its trem!ling roots*Ha"e you no use for my poor soul*&m ( 3ust in the way again*

=.

(f ( take your wasted hand,they will wither,all the dreams of sunlit lands.4et them fall62lossoms in white and pink,fruit to har"est,all is worth nothingagainst your !urden.


63/136

+a"es with salt foam,golden rockspale against your grey,leafless e"enings.(f ( cannot e"erheal fate$s !lows #gi"e me your !itter dayto share6

7i"e me your meagre autumn6( can free9e.(f there is a glint of consolationit will glow.Only a splash of lightis gi"en to youhere in your empty house,( gi"e my life.

G.

)ach word from you is like a seed.(ts root !ores deep away.( waken from a secret painand find no remedy.

Consumes me then like !itter thirst)ach mo"ement that you made.)ach intonation and each glancegrows near and !right and great.

%y day is grey with me and mine,which makes my figure dull.2ut mirror#!right is the night$s world,where you are all, all.

.

( think death is like you,tall and pale and straight like you,temples cast in a "ault that is the same,sea#eyed, distant#eyed as youand with the same lips, closed !y pain.

1ou are death. ( am yours,my hand yours and my mind yours.1ou ha"e deadened all life$s !urgeoning,lulled into a sorrowful sleepdream and deed that scarce ha"e tried their wing.

2ut ( lo"e you, my death,you my long, !itter death,


64/136

in whose closed hand my life withers away.1ou my sweet, sweet death #( !less your torture$s e"ery day6

I.

&ll, all ( ownedwas thine more than mine.&ll the most !eautiful ( wantedwas thine, thine, thine.

&loud with thee ( spokewhat no one in the world knows.On endless roadsthou wast my loneliness.

if ( lay awake at nightwith nothing in my thought,if ( !reathed, ( felt thee, thee.Thou wast round a!out.

4ifeless is life,where thou dost not remain.The world is an immense shell,that has no kernel in.

J.

4ight lily !ells on :ungsangen$s plain

( plucked one spring, when ( thought it was fall.%y heart was like them # only much less light #a mute, red !ell that !egged to call.

+here goes all the song that is choked and locked in*+here goes all the longing that attains not a thing*0erhaps it lies mixed in the water and soil.0erhaps is is there in the wind$s whistling.

Though nothing has happened, ( can manage no more.%ortally weary am (. +hat ha"e ( done*0erhaps ( ha"e stri"en in lands none ha"e seen*

Hard ( toiled at the gate of the rising sun6

( dragged stones in sleepless night.Then ( !uilt a mar!le palace in shimmering elegance.%y anguish raised the pinnacles. Of the fountain$s laughone hears no more that e"ery drop was once tears.

4ike fire !urn the roses towards the pillars$ stone,and sunwhite towers drink !lue peace that the hea"ens gi"e.


65/136

2ut o"er the gate it says SO4&C). &nd the air is pure.&nd ( ha"e prayed to the angels that there you shall li"e.

( put my !ells !y your locked, closed door.To release their tongues was !eyond my hand.1ou say that your life is as !itter as !efore.

2ut ( ha"e !uilt a palace for you in a far, far land...

B.

That which is said once is always saidand till the end of time will stay,and no night of anguish has powerto wipe that word away.

2ut strange it is, that a single wordcan choke the !eauty we recalland turn our aery dream to earth,till remorse alone is all.

Thus grow cool two long and hea"y years,when the fairest things !udding came,!efore only one word, that eternally standsand turns my life to shame.


66/136

( feel your footsteps in the hall.( feel in each ner"e your hurried steps.which otherwise no one will notice.&round me sweeps a wind of fire.( feel your footsteps, your !elo"ed footsteps,and my soul hurts.

1ou mo"e far away in the hall,!ut the air !illows with your footstepsand sings as the sea sings.( listen, caught in your consuming force.(n the rhythm of your rhythm, in time to yours,!eats my pulse in hunger.

;;.

There is a happiness of death,a happiness of destruction,which to my thirsting mouthonly one can gi"e,a happiness inexora!leto senselessly em!raceand sink deep and darkinto annihilation$s well.

( !roke free of your shadow.&round me it grows.( hear your name&s ( follow my ways.( chose the light of day,and ( want your dark.( will gi"e sight and lifefor your soul and your em!race.

;@.

( am "ictory#crowned with suffering$s wreath,with the !urning flowers of new, fresh pain,though my shame was effaced !y a hand so cool,and mercy#mild your 3udgement came.( am tottering drunk with aching and woe

( ha"e tasted the !itter drink ( desire( want more. ( want to see the cup$s !ase.( want to die on my threshold here.

ow the night has life, now the sky has power,now the earth and things are in reality caught.( am !lissful in the splendour of the great darkand with li"ing pain ( am hot.( am proud to share the sorrow that is yours,


67/136

( am rich with all the old pain you ga"e !reath.2ut that swoon of re3oicing that !inds me in,that is the !reathing of death.

;=.

The snow it falls, the wind it whines,fro9en is 8yri$s ri"er.The earth is lame and the hea"ens !lind,and life lies deserted fore"er.(t was a dream, a dream yesterday,Today ( ha"e already woken.+hen will your pain !e again so intensethat ( must share its hurting*

& day is so long. & day is so long.)"en longer is the night.%y mind is enclosed in a fro9en "ice,

and my thought shrinks e"er more tight.

;G.

( want to free9e in the street here !elowTo see two windows in a ga!le glow.To me the one who li"es there is "ery dear.( grow sick at heart when there$s light in there.

( will go to the corner, ( will slowly turn,

so ($ll catch a glimpse of you may!e, then.That you are so near... +hy am ( here*( grow sick at heart when there$s light in there.

;.

8alling stars that the night scatters,lightnings that glitter in flight,proud suns that the darkness drowns #who will call that destruction*Tongue of f ire till the lastyou shall die, you shall fade,un!ending in losing all,hea"y with fate as an ancient song.

%ountain summits in immense outline,sea$s expanses at !reak of day,great forests in miles#wide stretching #such is all ( know of you.Sea#deafened in the roar of surf,


68/136

sun#da99led in the light of snow,lulled in triumphant dreams of murmuring pines #thus do ( !less your splendour.

DISTRUST...

( !elie"e in those who li"e on a farmand !reak the soil.They take their strength from nourishing earth,and strengthen the earth as well.

( distrust those who seek in wanta distant home.They gladden so few, and only their sort.2ut ( am one of them.

Sooner my star"ing soul, ( suppose,

like a dog with no master would straysuspiciously shy round !arred#up houseand free9e pitifully away,

than !e chained fast to watch its farmin honoura!le callingand raise to the homeless migrant packa con"iction#ridden howling.

( see them mo"e o"er moor and marshwhere"er the dream will fly.( know that ( am !lood of their !lood.+hat use then am (*

( TH) &R:

(n the dark ( lie and hear!ells that outside thunder nearwith long and hea"y, e"en strokes,like deep !reaths the darkness takes.

They deaden all and make all sleepand free each o!3ect$s misty shapein long and hea"y, e"en !oomthat thought will ne"er !e free from.

( am amongst those who scarce existand only know and reminiscea!out old darkness$s !eating heartthat hopes to see no morrow start.

That fears no morrow or its start.


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CO%0)44)

Of po"erty ( am a priest,and will pro!a!ly always !e.+ho nothing has can dare the most,

for deed and thought set free.

( hear the e"il "oice$s scorn5$'irtue you make of need.+hat ha"e you then to a!stain from*+hat if you had your !read*$

1es, it is true that ( ha"e stoodand !egged at happiness$ doorand wept when ( was gi"en noughtand all was empty as !efore.

1es, it is true that all$s compelled.2ut is it worth less then*One meaning in our song is held5to make our fate a friend.

TO THE SHADOW OF A REALIT)

1ou are one of my dreams #good if no one wakes me6 #one of my !eautiful candles,that darkness not co"er me.

8ighter for goals so pale,ice and glass and sharpened steel6The !rilliant day( scarce know if the dream will !ear.

There is solace in the dream$s perfumes,cool, scarcely percepti!le.1et ( would gi"e them all awayfor the earthly real.+armth of dear !eautiful hands...( want to lo"e, not fantasi9e.4ife$s ripenessthe dream will ne"er imitate.


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"Karin Boye: Complete Poems".

David McDuff has translated the complete poems of Karin Boye in the book "Karin

Boye: Complete Poems". With kind permission by David McDuff, all poems are

available below:

Clouds

Hidden Lands

The Hearths

For the Tree's Sake

The Seven Deadly Sins
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THE TWO LINEAGES

%y song is sung for the folk of +rathon the heath that is thistle#ridden,for those whom the angel with flaming sworddro"e out of forfeited )den.Thistle#down, thistle#downo"er the fields wind#dri"en,without the strength to root and growinside the pleasure garden.

2ut the legends say that 7od$s sonsformerly found earth !eauteous

on the hills of %orn, in the golden gleamof primordial ages$ radiance,and the daughters of men were there as guestsin nights of the moon$s !illowy flounces,sowed children from their ether#seed,from lineage of hea"enly princes.

The happy one meets their offspring,and their hands !ring happiness.( ha"e seen them go midst the thistles

who walked on the shores of the !lest.# # #2ut there is also "aluein nights of sleepless dolour,and he who knows what anguish isknows more than many a scholar.

( ha"e seen them walk midst the thistles.They are free, they are weightless and clear,


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and ( /ui"er with longing and worshipfor a ga9e and a mo"ement mere.2ut say, who has touched our family$s root,those souls of glittering streamingsor you # with your eyes that are full of night

and your red mouth of !loodstained dreamings*

THE SWALLOWS

Hurrying, arrowing swallows, on wings restinghigh in the !lue expanses,wind#light in whistling gustsscorning the earth$s inertness #like a laugh of ridicule,clear, light, ringing,with contempt your flight meets our hearts$ weight,like a 3u!ilation,leapi

edith sodergran the seven deadly sins

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