Poem

Lennart Sjögren

Side by side

Original language

THE EYE

Take the dead creature’s head
in your hand
from your own head take out
the eye.
Put the creature’s eye (or your enemy’s)
in the empty socket
you won’t see any
difference.
The eyes are the same
it’s just the mounting
that is different.

© Translation: 2007, David McDuff

HET OOG

Neem de kop van het dode dier
in je hand
neem uit je eigen hoofd
een oog.
Zet het dierenoog (of dat van je vijand)
in het gapende gat
je zult geen enkel verschil
zien.
Ogen zijn eender
alleen hun zetting
verschilt.

© Vertaling: 2007, Bernlef

ÖGAT

Tag det döda djurets huvud
i din hand
uttag ur ditt eget huvud
ögat.
Sätt in djurets öga (eller din fiendes)
i det tomma hålet
någon skillnad skall du inte
se.
Ögonen är sig lika
bara infattningen är det
som skiljer.

© 2007, Lennart Sjögren
From: Sent, tidigt
Publisher: Albert Bonniers, Stockholm

Lennart Sjögren

Lennart Sjögren

Lennart Sjögren was born in the village of Böda on the Swedish island of Öland in the Baltic and to this very day lives on the former farm of his parents, down by the shore. During the 1950s, he studied for a while at the Gothenburg Academy of Art, where he met his wife, the artist Eva Forsberg, who has illustrated much of his work. In 1959, he made his debut as a poet. Apart from poetry, Sjögr...

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Close

THE EYE

Take the dead creature’s head
in your hand
from your own head take out
the eye.
Put the creature’s eye (or your enemy’s)
in the empty socket
you won’t see any
difference.
The eyes are the same
it’s just the mounting
that is different.

© 2007, David McDuff
From: Sent, tidigt

THE EYE

Take the dead creature’s head
in your hand
from your own head take out
the eye.
Put the creature’s eye (or your enemy’s)
in the empty socket
you won’t see any
difference.
The eyes are the same
it’s just the mounting
that is different.

© 2007, David McDuff

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