Tuesday 4 December 2012

Poem by Ivan Malinowski (1926-89) - a Danish poet

Disjecta membra

The gaze seeks a globe of peace but no
unity is final no boundary unwavering

even in eternity the lovers are cleft to the root
only fire goes never unsated to bed

the fruit’s two halves exclude each other
and happily die on their own

while the sunset suddenly lets slip the mask
and you look into a cellar of blood and panic

where everything only consists of its extremities
and nothing accordingly lasts

where a sun of nettles and burning dust
is the price of the metals’ mating and nothing’s

for sure not even the pain or the longing
with wandering waters under roofs of straw

there is no solution or balance
there is no dwelling on earth

but this divided blood refuses to die
and the flesh that clings to its bone can’t be cowed

1 comment:

Valdemar Cher said...

A marvelous translation!I love Malinowski! Thanks!