KNOWLEDGE

 
All the cautious ones with long nets
meet with the sea's giant laughter.
Friends, what do you seek on the shore?
Knowledge can never be captured,
can never be owned.
But if, straight as a drop,
you fall into the sea to dissolve,
ready for any transformation -
then you will awake with mother-of-pearl skin
and green eyes
on meadows where the sea's horses graze
and be knowledge.
 
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.