Marianne Larsen


Marianne Larsen is recognized as one of Denmark’s finest poets.



brat opvågnen


jeg drømte
at hver og en af os

da godt forstod
at vi levede

at fugle vidste alt om
deres egne sange

at fisk tav stille uden
noget som helst besvær

at blomster var helt med på
at de blomstrede

at enhver hund uden videre
begreb enhver anden gøende

at min krop da godt forstod
at være vidunderlig

jeg drømte den drøm
tusinde sekunder i træk

for nu snart en sær fjern
måned siden

så vågnede jeg brat op
til en ny skræk i livet

selve menneskelivet
alle menneskers liv i krig

med naturens spøgelseshær
på dørhåndtag og hud og alt nærvær

og forstod pludselig ingenting
ingen verdens corona ting!

ud over at følge vores venligtsindede
øverstbefalendes påbud om at holde

os fra hinanden
ingen ved hvor længe




Rude Awakening


I dreamt
every one of us

was well aware
we were of the living

that birds knew everything
about their songs

that fish grew silent
without the slightest effort

that flowers were of one mind
in flowering

that every dog knew full well
what all the other barkings meant

and that my very own body knew
how to be simply wonderful

I dreamt a dream
in a sweep of one hundred seconds

a very most distant
a strange month ago

when I woke all at once
to a new fright in my life

human life itself
every single life at war

with nature's hoard of phantoms
on doorknob and skin and every intimate thing

and all at once I understood nothing
nothing of a coronating world

other than to follow the amiable
injunctions of our high commanders

to keep away from each other
who knows for how long?



© Marianne Larsen. Translation: Gordon Walmsley.



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