Poem by the Swedish poet Ola Hansson (1860-1925)

October twilight

Now in the October night

the dark-grey rain mist sweeping

across the plain deepens.

Now everything is erased

that dimly stood out in there:

the clumps of villages,

the embankments’ stumpy willows, –

are erased and glide out

into the same great black darkness

in which the lights gleam

and the rain-wind sings

its monotonous,

melancholy song.

This landscape, which I have loved

with my innermost soul

and my secret being ...

the farmsteads’ fluttering lights that gleam like memories,

the wind that still sustains the minor key of my youth ...

all of this that has sounded in unison with

my life-depths’ fundamental tone

and sucked my best blood

like a hopeless love - - -

- - -

Now all of them fall silent,

my inner strings.

Not one point

that is sore.

Not one cell

that quivers.

In the midst of my memories

I am cold and empty.

To see the original poem, go to here