Edith Södergran QUOTES

1 " The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses. "

2 " Ripe summer's sweetness dripped
in pearls from every tree
and into my opened heart
a little drop ran down. "

― Edith Södergran ,

3 " I live on in the sweetness of old days
with strangers who build new dwellings
on blue hills up to the edge of the sky,
I talk softly with the captured trees
and comfort them sometimes.
How slowly time consumes the core of things,
and soundlessly treads fate’s heavy heel. "

― Edith Södergran ,

4 " Tahdon seisoa tulevaisuuden rajalla ja huutaa: Ei pelota! "

― Edith Södergran

5 " En gång slockna alla stjärnor, men de lysa alltid utan skräck. "

― Edith Södergran , Septemberlyran

6 " My self-confidence comes from the fact that I have discovered my own dimensions. It does not behoove me to make myself smaller than I am. "

― Edith Södergran

7 " Love

My soul was a light-blue gown, sky-coloured;
I left it on a cliff by the sea
and naked I came to you, resembling a woman.
And like a woman I sat at your table
and drank a toast with wine and breathed in the scent of several roses.
You found me beautiful, resembling something you'd seen dreaming,
I forgot everything, I forgot my childhood and my homeland,
I knew only that your caresses held me captive.
And, smiling, you took up a mirror and bade me look.
I saw that my shoulders were made of dust and crumbled away,
I saw that my beauty was sick and had no desire other than to - disappear.
Oh, hold me close in your arms, so tightly that I need nothing. "

― Edith Södergran ,

8 " Det anstår mig icke att göra mig mindre än jag är. "

― Edith Södergran , Septemberlyran

9 " I am no woman. I am a neuter.
I am a child, a page-boy, and a bold decision,
I am a laughing glimpse of a burning sun

I am a net for all voracious fish,
I am a toast to every woman’s honor,
I am a step toward chance and disaster,
I am a leap in freedom and the self

I am the blood’s whisper in a man’s ear,
I am the soul’s shiver, the flesh’s longing and denial,
I am an entry sign to new paradises

I am a flame, seeking and jolly,
I am a water, deep, but daring up to the knees,
I am fire and water, in sincere context, on free term "

― Edith Södergran

10 " In the shadow of the rocks my wildness stays awake,
ready to fly at the slightest whisper, at approaching steps...

I have a door to all four winds.
I have a golden door to the east – for love that never comes,
I have a door for day and another for sadness,
I have a door for death – that one is always open. "

― Edith Södergran ,

11 " I wanted just one thing – to disappear. "

― Edith Södergran ,

12 " In far-off lands stand the great stones
on which my thoughts rest.
It was a foreigner who wrote the strange words
on the hard board that is called my soul.
Days and nights I lie and think
about things that never happened:
my thirsty soul was once given a drink. "

― Edith Södergran ,

13 " Homecoming

My childhood's trees stand rejoicing around me: O human!
and the grass bids me welcome from foreign lands.
I lean my head in the grass: now home at last. "

― Edith Södergran , Complete Poems

14 " Vad fruktar jag? Jag är en del utav oändligheten.

Jag är en del av alltets stora kraft,

en ensam värld inom miljoner världar,

en första gradens stjärna lik som slocknar sist.

Triumf att leva, triumf att andas, triumf att finnas till!

Triumf att känna tiden iskall rinna genom sina ådror

och höra nattens tysta flod

och stå på berget under solen.

Jag går på sol, jag står på sol,

jag vet av ingenting annat än sol.

Tid - förvandlerska, tid - förstörerska, tid - förtrollerska

kommer du med nya ränker, tusen lister för att bjuda mig en tillvaro

som ett litet frö, som en ringlad orm, som en klippa i havet?

Tid - du mörderska - vik ifrån mig!

Solen fyller upp mitt bröst med ljuvlig honung upp till randen

och hon säger: en gång slockna alla stjärnor, men de lysa alltid utan skräck. "

― Edith Södergran

15 " Gå ikke alltför nära dina drömmar:
de äro en osanning, de borde gå -
de äro ett vansinne, de vilja stanna. "

― Edith Södergran , Complete Poems

16 " Min selvsikkerhed beror på, at jeg har opdaget mine dimensioner. Det er ikke min sag at gøre mig mindre end jeg er "

― Edith Södergran

17 " Nerokkain on taipuisin ja taipumattomin. "

― Edith Södergran , Kaikkiin neljään tuuleen

18 " Nu ville vi säga dig ditt livs hemlighet:
nyckeln till alla hemligheter ligger i gräset i hallonbacken.
Vi ville stöta dig för pannan, du sovande,
vi ville väcka dig, döda, ur din sömn. "

― Edith Södergran ,

19 " I was alone on a sunny shore
by the forest’s pale blue lake,
in the sky floated a single cloud
and on the water a single isle.
The ripe sweetness of summer dripped
in beads from every tree
and straight into my opened heart
a tiny drop ran down.

"Forest Lake "

― Edith Södergran

20 " Syyllisyydentunto on aina varma merkki luonteen heikkoudesta, todellinen syyllisyys jää kysymysmerkiksi. "

― Edith Södergran , Kaikkiin neljään tuuleen

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