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    YOU SHALL THANK


    You shall thank your gods,
    if they force you to go
    where you have no footprints
    to trust to.

    You shall thank your gods,
    if all shame on you they pin.
    You must seek refuge
    a little further in.

    What the whole world condemns
    sometimes manages quite well.
    Outlaws were many
    who gained their own soul.

    He who is forced to wild wood
    looks on all with new sight,
    and he tastes with gratitude
    life's bread and salt.

    You shall thank your gods,
    when your shell they break.
    Reality and kernel
    the sole choice you can make.


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

    Swedish original



    Copyright © 2005:
    Translation from Swedish into English: David McDuff

    Published with the permission of:
    David McDuff, translation.
    May and Hans Mehlin, Layout.

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

     
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