8 October 2011

Nobel Prize Winner for Literature

Tomas Transtromer has won the Nobel Prize for literature for his poem, 'After a Death'. He is the first poet to take the prize since Wisława Szymborska won it in 1996. You can read all about it here, if you are interested. Obviously, today's poem will be the poem that won the Nobel Prize. It has been translated so we all can understand it. I actually really like it. Hope you do too. Happy Weekend all. And to all my Canadian friends: Happy Thanksgiving!!

After a Death  
by Tomas Tranströmer
translated by Robert Bly

Once there was a shock
that left behind a long, shimmering comet tail.
It keeps us inside. It makes the TV pictures snowy.
It settles in cold drops on the telephone wires.

One can still go slowly on skis in the winter sun
through brush where a few leaves hang on.
They resemble pages torn from old telephone directories.
Names swallowed by the cold.

It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat
but often the shadow seems more real than the body.
The samurai looks insignificant
beside his armor of black dragon scales.

2 comments:

  1. My favorite line is, "names swallowed by the cold." I could feel that and see it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have no idea at all who he is, but the Swedes were sure happy

    ReplyDelete

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