Gunnar Ekelöf | KNOT Magazine

Gunnar Ekelöf, translated by Alejandro Drewes

flaggprydd sång

morgonen vaknar blåögd och vinden öppnar fönstret för him-

len bland vita moln och fladdrande gardiner

utanför kvittrar fåglarna pärlband i buskarna som knoppas

och regndropparna glittrar som pärlor i det gröna gräset

medan solskenet vältaligt berömmer de rodnande blom-

morna...

och trädenas händer välsignar stilla dagsljuset som lånar all-

ting lugn och skönhet medan tysta svalor jagar evighe-

tens insekt i den osynliga luften och solen spelar och

sjunger guld! guld! och hela den klara blå himlen

i lungorna…

song adorned with flags

the morning wakes up with blue eyes and the wind opens hea-

ven’s window between white clouds and fluttering curtains

outside a song of birds, string of pearls in flowering bushes

and raindrops shining like pearls on the green grass

praise of the sun, eloquence, to the blushing flo-

wers…

and the hands of trees bless the daylight to the Uni-

verse donated

peace and beauty while mute swallows in the ever-

ness hunt insects in the invisible air and the sun plays and

sing: gold! gold! and all the clear blue sky

in the lungs…

böljeslag

blå är mina önskningar, blå är himlens och havets önskningar

för hårt är människornas liv för mig, jag trivs bland

musslorna och tången

mina stränder är havets halsband och havet andas lugnt och

rasslar sakta med alla sina kiselstenar..

i molnena spelar en osynlig stråkkvartett med färger och

solen dör som en svan av ljus

kanske någon ger mig fåglar att flyga med i solens röda

kölvatten där min fosforstjärna darrar

om jag väntar kanske någon förvandlar mina önskningar till

raketer och låter dem explodera bredvid ett moln långt

borta

då skulle blåa stjärnor sakta regna ner i den röda kvällen..

blå är mina önskningars stjärnor, för hårt är människornas

liv för mig

waves

blue is my desire and blue ‘s the desire of the sea and the sky

human life is too hard for me, thriving

between mussels and seaweed

marine necklace are beaches and so calm breathes the sea and

slow oscillates it with all its pebbles...

in the clouds plays the string of an invisible quartet with colors and

the sun dies like a swan of light

someone would give me birds to fly to the red of the sun

I wake up where my phosphorus star trembles

if I wait, someone may convert my wishes

on rockets exploding next to a long cloud

far

and blue stars would rain on the red night later ...

blue are my desire stars, but too hard the human

life for me

Gunnar Ekelöf, (born Sept. 15, 1907, Stockholm—died March 16, 1968, Sigtuna, Swed.), outstanding Swedish poet and essayist.

Ekelöf exerted great influence on his contemporaries. His radically modern style was influenced by such poets as Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Ezra Pound, and T.S. Eliot. In such poetry from the 1930s as Sent på jorden (1932; “Late on Earth”), Ekelöf was drawn to the Surrealist technique of automatism (the spontaneous release of the subconscious in the creative act), but his work also reflects an interest in musical forms and Oriental mysticism. Central to Ekelöf’s work is En Mölna-elegi (1960; “A Mölna Elegy”), published in several earlier versions from the mid-1940s.

* From Encyclopedia Britannica

Alejandro Drewes has simultaneous translations on Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit, in the Green Groups of Fundación Centro Psicoanalítico (Buenos Aires, Argentina), readings coordinated with Lic. M.Valiente (2012). His poetry translations include German, English, Danish and Swedish publications on the Internet and print magazines, and books. He is an Editorial staff member of Francachela, Revista de Arte y Cultura (Argentina-Chile), (2008-2009); Saber y Tiempo (UNSAM, School of Humanities (2005-2017); Revista Kairós de Estudios del Nuevo Mundo (2013); Analecta Literaria (Argentina).

Drewes has published several books including, Uvas del Paraíso. Buenos Aires, Ed. Francachela, 2007. Lugares de la noche. Buenos Aires, Ed. La Luna Que, 2013. En tierra extranjera / I fremmed land (Spanish-Danish bilingual poetry book). La Plata, Talleres Lizual, 2015, col. "Cuadernos de Casa Bermeja", Guillermo Pilía (Ed.). Mar de fondo. Sevilla, Ediciones de la Isla de Siltolá, 2015.

Dewes has published literary criticism essays in Gibralfaro (Faculty of Letters, University of Málaga); Francachela (Argentina-Chile); Norte/ Sur (México); CriticArte (Dominican), Ser en la Cultura and Superhombre (Argentina) and Consciência (Brazil).

Alejandro's awards include the Hugo Paulo de Oliveira Award (Rio das Ostras, Brazil, 2007).

Illustrious Citizen of Rio das Ostras (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2007), Culture Foundation, in award for literary career. Prize of the Latin American Association of Poets (ASOLAPO) to the literary trajectory, 2011. Prize "Pluma de Plata", Fundación Argentina para la Poesía (2014).