Pär Lagerkvist: 'Du som fanns före bergen och molnen'

 

You who existed before the mountains and the clouds,

before the sea and the winds,

You whose beginning is before the beginning of all things

and whose joy and sorrow are older than the stars.

You who have roamed eternally young over winter streets

and through the great darknesses between them.

You who were lonely before loneliness

and whose heart was full of anxiety long before any human heart –

Do not forget me.

 

But how could you possibly remember me.

How should the sea possibly remember the shell

through which it once roared.