Tomas Tranströmer
Along The Radius
I
The ice-bound river is blazing with sun
here is the world’s roof
silence.
I’m sitting on an upturned boat on the bank
swallowing the drug of silence
spinning gently.
II
A wheel spreads out endlessly, turns.
Here is the centre, almost
still.
Further out, perceptible movement: the steps in the snow
the writing which shuffles along
the facades.
The rumbling traffic on the highways
and the silent traffic
of ghosts.
And further out: the tragic masks in the head-wind
in the whine of speed - further out:
the rush
where the last words of love evaporate -
the drips that creep
on the steel wings -
profiles that cry out - the suspended head-phones
chatter at each other -
kamikaze.
III
The ice-bound river glitters and is silent.
The shadows lie deep here
and voiceless.
My steps here were explosions in the ground
which the silence paints over
paints over.
Translated by Robin Fulton
Page(s) 27-28
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