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    A FORM AM I

     
    A form am I,
    but the stuff the primordial flame.
    Fire is my gaze
    and flames my hands.
    In drunkenness that creates
    twine the fire's tongues
    insatiably around that play of lines
    that is your being.
    Form also you,
    but form that is through-annealed,
    etherealized
    raised from the depths' sea of fire -
    mirage and image,
    half-created and growing
    - like all gods -
    bubble above chaos.
    Of all things 
    the gods are most transient,
    of all things 
    worship is most enduring.
    O bubble bubble
    moment and delusion
    and through the fire
    the goal of eternity
    !

    Translated into English by David McDuff in "Karin Boye: Complete poems".

    Swedish original



    Copyright © 2005:
    Translation from Swedish into English: David McDuff
    Swedish original: Ulf Boye

    Published with the permission of:
    David McDuff, translation.
    Ulf Boye, copyright of the Swedish original.
    May and Hans Mehlin, Layout.

    For more information, please visit the website of David McDuff and his own pages with the translations.