Two Cities, Tomas Tranströmer | translation by Patty Crane

← v10n1, Spring 2011

Each on its own side of a strait, two cities

one plunged into darkness, under enemy control.

In the other the lamps are burning.

The luminous shore hypnotizes the blacked-out one.

I swim out in a trance

on the glittering dark waters.

A muffled tuba-blast breaks in.

It’s a friend’s voice, take your grave and go.

translation war place

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.