Two Poems by Edith Södergran

Translated from the Swedish by CD Eskilson

Lucky Cat 

I have a lucky cat with me
that purrs out lucky thread.
Lucky cat, lucky cat,
get three things for me:

get me a golden ring
to tell me I’m blessed;
get me a mirror
to tell me I’m beautiful;
get me a fan
to blow away dark thoughts.

Lucky cat, lucky cat,
purr a little something for me!

The Strange Tree 

It stands among the other fruit trees,
this strange tree with purple catkins.
It stands on a sunny hillside whispering:

Come golden daughter, autumn rover, ear of the forest:
I will tell you where happiness is found, where it goes.
Place your fingers on my bark and I will
wrap your limbs in autumn’s brilliance; 

Come sweetheart, nymph, you blessed and blushing one:
I will show you the path no other can find; 

Come fair one, come thrill-seeker:
you will journey far to where no one will know you,
you will lock eyes with those from the eastlands
who will ask you no questions. Sitting in their longing—
you will be a long way from home, and be happy.

Lyckokatt 

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!

Det främmande trädet 

Det främmande trädet står med granna frukter,
det främmande trädet står med purpurhängen
på en solig sluttning och viskar sakta:
Kom, kom, du gyllene dotter, du höstens vandrerska, du skogens lyssnerska,
jag skall säga dig varifrån lyckan kommer och vart lyckan går.
Lägg dina fingrar på min bark och jag skall
hölja dina lemmar med höstens härlighet.
Kom, kom, du smekande, du sagolika, du lyckliga, du röda,
jag skall visa dig vägen som ingen kan finna allena…
Kom, kom, du bleka, du blodbegärande,
du skall gå långt härifrån, dit där ingen känner dig,
är skall du möta österländska ögon,
de fråga aldrig, de vila i vemod…
Du skall leva fjärran från ditt hem och vara lycklig.

Translator’s Note

Edith Södergran (1892-1923) was a Finland-Swedish poet largely credited with introducing modernism to Swedish-language poetry. Södergran’s poems stand out through their rejection of previous lyrical forms and modes, along with radical depictions of feminine embodiment that today might be recognized as genderqueer. She released four collections during her lifetime though her poetry was largely ridiculed by critics. She died of chronic tuberculosis at age thirty-one, receiving little positive recognition. However, her impact on Swedish poetry since has become monumental, and today she is remembered as one of the greatest modern poets in Scandinavian literature.

These translations come from Edith Södergran's debut poetry collection from 1916 titled Dikter (Poems). As a Swedish-speaking Finn living on the border of the Russian Empire, Södergran remained isolated from Helsinki’s conservative literary culture. This put her on a path towards creating her own brand of challenging, unique poetry that would eventually bring literary modernism to the Nordic countries. 

Moving against Finnish Romanticism’s pure celebration of the landscape, Södergran’s poems use natural imagery to probe cerebral ideas and individual struggles. Symbolic exploration of the external world allowed for a deeply personal examination of feminine subjectivity that was completely unheard of in Finland-Swedish literature. “Lucky Cat” invokes the speaker’s pet to help actualize their very human desires for connection and happiness. While its musicality evokes a sense of levity, the poem revolves around a deep lack within the speaker’s human relationships that has them turning to the animal realm for satisfaction. Similarly, “The Strange Tree” emphasizes isolation and charges its female poetic subject to venture off to find self-actualization. In having the majority of the poem arrive through the voice of the tree, Södergran challenges readers to question previous anthropocentric modes that gave rise to alienating structures like patriarchy and sexism. Here, the tree foreshadows the subject’s journey to a place beyond their homeland’s present subjugation.

Södergran’s poetry braids natural imagery with explorations of women’s sexuality, love, isolation, mortality, and the confinement of normative gender roles. Set in a world often marked by confinement and restriction, Poems also displays the possibilities and resistances one can achieve through evocations of nature’s intense creative power. 

CD Eskilson is a trans poet, editor, and translator in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Their work appears in The Offing, Pleiades, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Ninth Letter, among others. They are a recipient of the C.D. Wright/Academy of American Poets Prize, as well as being a Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and Pushcart Prize nominee. Their debut poetry collection, Scream / Queen, is forthcoming from Acre Books.

Published January 15 2025