Tomas Tranströmer - Syros (1)
Translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton
In Syros harbor leftover cargo steamers lay waiting.
Prow by prow. Moored many years since:
CAPE RION, Monrovia.
KRITOS, Andros.
SCOTIA, Panama.
Dark pictures on the water, they have been hung away.
Like toys from our childhood that have grown to giants
and accuse us
of what we never became.
XELATROS, Pireus.
CASSIOPEIA, Monrovia.
The sea has read them through.
But the first time we came to Syros, it was at night,
we saw prow by prow by prow in the moonlight and thought:
What a mighty fleet, magnificent connections.
Tomas Tranströmer - Syros (2)
Translated from the Swedish by May Swenson and Leif Sjöberg
In Syros' harbor abandoned merchant ships lay idle.
Stem by stem by stem. Moored for many years:
CAPE RION, Monrovia.
KRITOS, Andros.
SCOTIA, Panama.
Dark paintings on the water, they have been hung aside.
Like playthings from our childhood, grown gigantic,
that remind us
of what we never became.
XELATROS, Piraeus.
CASSIOPEIA. Monrovia.
The ocean scans them no more.
But when we first came to Syros, it was at night,
we saw stem be stem by stem in moonlight and thought:
what a powerful fleet, what splendid connections!
