The Dead’s Bargain
There is no peace,
neither in fire nor in water.
Write each word
as if your life depended on it.
Time passes,
and all I get
is the right to write down the pain
of what exists.
More than one dream
I have let go by untried.
More than one life
I have let live itself.
Like a curious child
I followed the death-dance closely over a fire
in a can
in which I had caught an insect.
Write every word
as if your life depended on it.
The insect legs catch fire—
I write and act on my deficiencies.
But then what are we waiting for:
to become one with what
we are waiting for.
I am too many to be one.
De Dødes Handel
Der er ingen ro,
hverken i ilden eller i vandet,
skriv hvert ord,
som om det gjaldt dit liv.
Tiden går,
og det eneste jeg får,
er retten til at skrive smerten ned
over det, der ér.
Mere end en drøm
har jeg ladet gå uprøvet forbi.
Mere end et liv
har jeg ladet leve for sig selv.
Som nysgerrigt barn
fulgte jeg nøje dødsdansen i en dåse
over en ild,
hvor jeg havde lukket et insekt inde.
Skriv hvert ord,
som om det gjaldt dit liv.
Insektbenen går i brand –
jeg skriver og handler på mine mangler.
Men, hvad er det da vi venter på:
at blive ét med det,
vi venter på.
Jeg er for mange til at være én.
About the Author
Danish author, musician, painter, and sculptor Rolf Gjedsted (1947-2022) wrote fifty-five works of poetry, fiction, translation, and non-fiction. Gjedsted never achieved great notoriety during his lifetime, but he was fearless in penetrating the substance of the written word. Gjedsted owned the stone cabin in Spain where Federico García Lorca lived before being murdered, and Gjedsted wrote many poems there.
About the Translator
Michael Favala Goldman is a poet, jazz clarinetist and translator of Danish literature. Among his seventeen translated books are Farming Dreams by Knud Sørensen and Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen (a Penguin Classic). His five books of original poetry include Small Sovereign. He lives in Northampton, MA, where he has been running poetry workshops since 2018. His website is https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/
