Poem of the Week, week 44: Gunvor Hofmo "Between Light and Darkness"
Enjoy a weekly poem by authors from Norway, throughout the year.
BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Like waves of silence
the light gushes
into the room.
The red cactus flowers
are flung wide with wonder
shyly, expectantly looking
out to the light.
Blissful purity
rests in their leaves
at this hour.
Then comes the dusk
humming
and kisses the expectant
eyes of the flowers
which close and tremble.
Outside the window
dark clouds are gliding in the deep blue air,
calmly, so calmly,
one after another in long procession
like old people
walking slowly behind a coffin
without fear, without sorrow,
filled with the peace of the evening.
Gunvor Hofmo (1921-1995)
Translated by Carl Nesjar in 20th Century Scandinavian Poetry, Sweden, 1950, p. 183-184.
See the poem in Norwegian
Poem of the Week
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