THE WORLD'S HEART
Say, where does the world's heart burn,
the world's heart of fire?
It lives on coarse, heavy prehistoric coal:
black darkness, dense night, Chaos.
Seek there!
For thus is the nature of fire:
strong with its foe's struggle -
itself a struggle, glowing struggle -
has no other nature.
And the victory? When the darkness has disappeared in
flames?
Is the victory death?
Empty question and empty fear!
The world's heart is fire,
and fire wants to conquer.
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.