April and Silence, Tomas Tranströmer | translation by Patty Crane

← v10n1, Spring 2011

Spring lies forsaken.

The velvet-dark ditch

crawls by my side

without reflections.

The only thing that shines

are yellow flowers.

I am cradled in my shadow

like a fiddle

in its black case.

The only thing I want to say

glimmers out of reach

like the silver

at the pawnbroker’s.

translation nature poetry

Patty Crane

Patty Crane’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in American Letters & Commentary , Bellevue Literary Review, RUNES, The Massachusetts Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, and West Branch , among other journals. Her awards include the 2004 Two Rivers Review Poetry Prize and Atlanta Review’s 2005 International Publication Prize.