Slow Music
Translated By Patty Crane
The building is closed. Sun beats in through the windowpanes
and warms the surfaces of desks
strong enough to bear the weight of human destiny.
We’re outdoors today, on the long wide slope.
Many in dark clothing. You can stand in the sun with your eyes closed
and feel yourself being blown slowly forward.
I come to the water so rarely. But I’m here now,
among large stones with peaceful backs.
Stones that slowly wandered backward out of the waves.
Translated from the Swedish
Notes:
Read the Swedish-language original, “Långsam musik.”
From The Blue House: Collected Works of Tomas Tranströmer, translated by Patty Crane. Copyright © 2011 by Tomas Tranströmer. Translation copyright © 2023 by Patty Crane. Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org.
Source: Poetry (July/August 2023)