EDITH SÖDERGRAN
THE STARS
When night comes
I stand on the steps and listen,
stars swarm in the yard
and I stand in the dark.
Listen, a star fell with a clang!
Don’t go out in the grass with bare feet;
my yard is full of shards.
THE ARMORED TRAIN
Fifty coaches of hopes I loaded up for your America.
They came back empty...
Disappointment cargo
Now I’m sending an armored train with stonehard masks in the threatening portholes:
thousands of packed coaches are coming home.
LITTLEOLDMAN
Littleoldman sits around counting eggs.
Every time he counts, one egg is lost.
My friends, don’t show him your gold.
MY ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS
My artificial flowers
I send them to you.
My small bronze lions
I set up at your door.
I myself sit down on the steps --
a lost oriental pearl
in the big city’s noisy sea.
Translated
by Johannes Göransson.