Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Poems from Molnsommar (‘Cloud summer’, Schildts, 1996). Introduction by Tuva Korsström

Old man

He almost merely slept
and while he slept
his life was accomplished.
Pieces slid out
were examined and fitted together
and while he slept
he was made ready. More…

Poems from Vattenhjulet (‘The water-wheel’, 1986). Introduction by Thomas Warburton

Together with time

One day the door to my room closed
and fate said to me: be still.
It was then that I discovered time.
It had lain hidden beneath a lid
of events and hasty decisions.
It was then that I raised the lid.
So strange! There time lay
completely unused, completely itself
smooth and fresh, as if resting.
I looked at time with reverence.
I saw myself new, I sank into
a miraculous eventlessness
together with time
listened to myself living:
a barely perceptible murmur.

The water-wheel

The old horse plods heavily with blinkered eyes 
the wheel turns slowly and inexorably
creating time, a thing that is not visible
that is really nothing
			with the right to kill.

More…