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.