TO THE SHADOW OF A REALITY
You are one of my dreams -
good if no one wakes me! -
one of my beautiful candles,
that darkness not cover me.
Fighter for goals so pale,
ice and glass and sharpened steel!
The brilliant day
I scarce know if the dream will bear.
There is solace in the dream's perfumes,
cool, scarcely perceptible.
Yet I would give them all away
for the earthly real.
Warmth of dear beautiful hands...
I want to love, not fantasize.
Life's ripeness
the dream will never imitate.
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.