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    INVULNERABLE

     
    Invulnerable, invulnerable
    is he that grasps the primordial saying:
    There is no happiness and unhappiness.
    There is only life and death.
    And when you have learnt it and ceased to chase the wind
    and when you have learnt it and ceased to be frightened
    by the gale
    then come back and teach me one more time:
    There is no happiness and unhappiness.
    There is only life and death.
    I began to repeat it when my will was born,
    and will cease to repeat it when my will has ceased to be.
    The secret of the primordial sayings
    we acquire until our death.
     

    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.