Nobel prize-winning Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer today.
Allegro
by Tomas Tranströmer
After a black day, I play Haydn,
and feel a little warmth in my hands.
The keys are ready. Kind hammers fall.
The sound is spirited, green, and full of silence.
The sound says that freedom exists
and someone pays no taxes to Caesar.
I shove my hands in my haydnpockets
and act like a man who is calm about it all.
I raise my haydnflag. The signal is:
"We do not surrender. But want peace."
The music is a house of glass standing on a slope;
rocks are flying, rocks are rolling.
The rocks roll straight through the house
but every pane of glass is still whole.
~~~~~~~~~~
Two haiku by Tomas Tranströmer
Standing on the balcony
in a cage of sunbeams –
like a rainbow
~~~~~~~~~~
Death bends over me –
I’m a chess problem, and he
has the solution
~~~~~~~~~~
Greg has our Poetry Friday round-up this week.
12 comments:
Beautiful musical poems. It's my first time to hear of this Nobel prize-winning Swedish poet, Tomas Transtromer. Thank you for introducing him to us.
Beautiful poems, Tabatha. I especially like the second haiku -- so rich in metaphor.
Love these, Tabatha. Hadynpockets :). Didn't realize he wrote haiku.
Thank you for sharing these, Tabatha! I love the Haydn poem - and those "haydnpockets" especially.
A new poet for me, Tabatha. I love this line:
"The sound is spirited, green, and full of silence."
I've just been repeating it and mulling over its beauty.
I have been meaning to look up his work since he won the Nobel Prize (I have to confess I had been rooting for Murakami). Thank you for sharing his poems -- they are beautiful.
Tabatha,
I wish you were here, so we could share a cup of tea. Thank you for posting these poems. I love Evonne's picture.
The poem ALLEGRO especially spoke to me today.
For some small reason I think you might enjoy the poem I am posting tomorrow on my blog at www.poetryforkidsjoy.blogspot.com
thank you for this post. It has been helpful to me. Blessings.
This poem makes me wish I could play the piano.
You had me at "Allegro." Perfect.
During a black day, I play Brahms. : )
I absolutely love them. Thanks for introducing them to me. I can't pick out a few lines that I like because I like so many. Okay, maybe just one--a cage of sunbeams.
We know we're in for a treat from the very first line, don't we? "After a black day, I play Haydn." That is really skillful translating, too - I wonder who did it? Thanks for posting it, Tabatha!
Beautiful, Tabatha! I love the image of
"The music is a house of glass standing on a slope;
rocks are flying, rocks are rolling.
The rocks roll straight through the house
but every pane of glass is still whole."
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