INVOKING & EVOKING EDITH SÖDERGRAN'S 'VI KVINNOR'

The language of equality is international, so today, from Malmö in Sweden, The Grandma, who is Andorran/Catalan, wants to remember Edith Södergran, a poet who was born in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire, of Finnish nationality who wrote in Swedish, author of one of the most wonderful poems ever written about women, Vi kvinnor, which was translated into Catalan by Maria del Mar Bonet in an excellent way, even though we all know that in literature 'to translate is to betray'.

We must work so that equality is not just a slogan, nor a topic to win votes when there are elections, nor marketing without content to be politically correct, nor a business that distorts all the work, effort and sacrifice of so many women over so many centuries, a work that must continue to dignify the lives of so many women from theocratic regimes to consolidated false democracies, because as Edith Södergran wrote you looked for a woman and you found a person, and the day we all see each other as equals, that day we will be able to call ourselves a real society.

 

Vi kvinnor, vi äro så nära den bruna jorden.
Vi fråga göken, vad han väntar av våren,
vi slå våra armar kring den kala furan,
vi forska i solnedgången efter tecken och råd.

Vi kvinnor, vi äro så fattiga på ord,
vi veta endast så mycket som träden,
vi kunna endast tiga och vänta
som de mörka skogarna vänta på våren.

Jag älskade en gång en man,
han trodde på ingenting.
Han kom en kall dag med tomma ögon,
han gick en tung dag med glömska över pannan.

Jag väntade ett barn av honom.
Men barnet dog i mitt sköte,
och jag bar dess lilla lik
i mitt hjärta länge.

Om mitt barn icke lever, är det hans.

Nosaltres, les dones
Som molt a prop de la terra
Demanàvem als ocells
Que esperen de la primavera

Acollim al pi despullat
Dins els nostres braços
Cerquem en la posta de sol
Senyals i consells

Vaig estimar un cop un home
Ell no creia en res
Arribà un dia gelat
Amb els ulls buits
Se n'anà un dia feixuc
Amb l'oblit sobre el front

Si el meu fill neix mort
És seu

Tu cercaves una flor
I vares trobar un fruit
Cercaves una font
I vares trobar un riu
Volies una dona
I trobares una persona
I et sents
Desenganyat

We women, we are so close to the brown earth.
We ask the cuckoo what he expects from spring,
We wrap our arms around the bare pine,
We search the sunset for signs and advice.

We women, we are so poor in words,
We only know as much as the trees,
We can only be silent and wait
As the dark forests wait for spring.

I once loved a man,
He believed in nothing.
He came one cold day with empty eyes,
He left one heavy day with forgetfulness over his forehead.

I expected a child from him.
But the child died in my womb,
And I carried its little corpse
In my heart for a long time.
If my child does not live, it is his.

 

More information: Nordic Womens Literature

 

 

Mitt självförtroende kommer från det faktum 
att jag har upptäckt mina egna dimensioner. 
Det anstår mig inte att göra mig själv mindre än jag är.

My self-confidence comes from the fact
that I have discovered my own dimensions. 
It does not behoove me to make myself smaller than I am.

Edith Södergran