Black or White
Rivers run below bridges,
flowers dot roadsides,
trees bend with whispers to the ground.
There's no up or down to me,
no black or white,
not since I saw the bride
in my love's arms.
The Forest Lake
I stood alone on a sunny beach
by the forest's pale blue lake
a single cloud in the sky,
a single island in the waves.
Ripe summer sweetness dripped
in pearls off every bough
straight into my open heart
a little drop ran down.
Evening
I don't want to hear this sad tale
that the forest tells.
The whispers that linger between spruces,
the sighs stuck in the leaves,
shadows gliding over gloomy trunks.
Come out to the road: no one will meet us there.
Night dreams in pale red along the embankment.
The road runs slowly, then climbs gently,
takes a long look back at the sunset.
Love
My soul was a dress pale blue as the sky,
I left it on a rock by the sea
and came to you naked, looking like a woman.
And like a woman I sat at your table
and drank a bowl of wine, breathed in the scent of roses.
You found me beautiful, like someone you saw in a dream.
I forgot it all: forgot my childhood and my homeland,
I knew that your touch kept me captive.
Smiling, you held up a mirror and told me to look.
I saw my shoulders were made of crumbling dust,
saw my beauty was sick and I wanted to vanish.
Hold me in your arms, so close that I need nothing.
____________________
Modern Woman
translated from the Swedish by CD Eskilson
World Poetry 2026
