INVULNERABLE

 
Invulnerable, invulnerable
is he that grasps the primordial saying:
There is no happiness and unhappiness.
There is only life and death.
And when you have learnt it and ceased to chase the wind
and when you have learnt it and ceased to be frightened 
                                                      by the gale
then come back and teach me one more time:
There is no happiness and unhappiness.
There is only life and death.
I began to repeat it when my will was born,
and will cease to repeat it when my will has ceased to be.
The secret of the primordial sayings
we acquire until our death.
 
Translated into English by David McDuff in "Karin Boye: Complete poems".

Swedish original


Copyright © 2005:
Translation from Swedish into English: David McDuff

Published with the permission of:
David McDuff, translation.
May and Hans Mehlin, Layout.

For more information, please visit the website of David McDuff and his own pages with the translations.