Here are some of my poems translated into English. All are from Min längtan kvar (Rabén & Sjögren, 2019) except the first which is from Att vara eller inte vara (Rabén & Sjögren, 2016), and the last which is from Mera glass i däcken (Eriksson & Lindgren, 2003). The translations are my own.
•
if our class
was the solar system
you’d be the sun
the center of everything
which the rest of us
are just orbiting
and me
i’d be Pluto
so very far away
and would no longer count
•
when i open my eyes
i see the computer
the chair
the desk
my mobile phone
a glass of water
when i close my eyes
i see only you
•
i wish i could help you study
i wish i could offer you my umbrella
i wish i could comfort you
i’d do it really well
so why
are you not sad
and why isn’t it raining
and why didn’t we get
any homework
•
sometimes
i wish you were so small
that i could hold you
in my hand
sometimes
i wish i was so small
that you could hold me
in your heart
•
please say nothing
don’t come any closer
i want to
keep on longing
•
only when you first saw me
you had the possibility to look away
only when you first came over to me
you had the possibility to walk away
only when we first got together
you had the possibility to call it quits
•
these words
a time machine
because you see the snow don’t you
the snow i saw outside the window
when i wrote this and thought of you
that was a long time ago
but
the snow keeps on falling
•
i believe
death is underground
rocking the dead
in sleep eternal
i enjoy sleeping
but i don’t want to wake up
down in the earth
it’s so hard to rise
if there’s a tombstone
on top of you
Mårten Melin 