by Edith Södergran | Translated from the Swedish by CD Eskilson
But my heart decided: with red I’ll live.
Now I reside in a land where everything’s yours,
in a kingdom that death never enters.
I lean against this marble well’s edge all day
and when I’m asked if happiness has been around
I shake my head and smile:
happiness is far off where a woman sews a child’s blanket,
happiness is where a man builds a cabin in the woods.
Here, red roses bloom around bottomless wells,
here, the fair days admire their own grinning reflections
and large flowers drop their finest petals—
Edith Södergran (1892-1923) was a Finland-Swedish poet largely credited with introducing modernism to Swedish-language poetry. Södergran’s poems stand out through their rejection of previous lyrical forms and modes, along with radical depictions of feminine embodiment that today might be recognized as genderqueer. She released four collections during her lifetime though her poetry was largely ridiculed by critics. She died of chronic tuberculosis at age 31 receiving little positive recognition. However, her impact on Swedish poetry since has become monumental, and today she is remembered as one of the greatest modern poets in Scandinavian literature.
CD Eskilson is a trans nonbinary poet, editor, and translator. They are a recipient of the C.D. Wright/Academy of American Poets Prize, as well as a Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and Pushcart Prize nominee. Their debut poetry collection, Scream / Queen, is out now from Acre Books.