Monday 18 July 2016

Poetry Revisited: Lyckokatt – Luck Cat by Edith Södergran

Lyckokatt

(från Dikter: 1916)

Jag har en lyckokatt i famnen,
den spinner lyckotråd.
Lyckokatt, lyckokatt,
skaffa mig tre ting:
skaffa mig en gyllne ring,
som säger mig att jag är lycklig;
skaffa mig en spegel,
som säger mig att jag är skön;
skaffa mig en solfjäder,
som fläktar bort mina påhängsna tankar.
Lyckokatt, lyckokatt,
spinn mig ännu litet om min framtid!

Edith Södergran (1892-1923)
finlandssvensk poet

Luck Cat

(from Poems: 1916)

I have a luck cat in my arms,
it spins threads of luck.
Luck cat, luck cat,
make for me three things:
make for me a golden ring,
to tell me that I am lucky;
make for me a mirror
to tell me that I am beautiful;
make for me a fan
to waft away my cumbersome thoughts.
Luck cat, luck cat,
spin for me some news of my future!


Swedish-speaking Finnish poet
translated by Edith LaGraziana
with the help of Google translate

3 comments:

  1. Great! A friend and I were talking about luck yesterday. We have both been lucky in life, compared to others, and decided we like being lucky.

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    Replies
    1. That's great that you can say of yourself that so far you have been really lucky in life! I'd gladly join in, but the past few years have brought me too many bad news to leave them out of account. And yet, I reckon that on the whole I'm having a pretty good life... just lacking a luck cat to spin for me some (good) news of my future.

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