(the original interpretation from the Swedish, plus progressively scaled down versions)


The Involuntary Prince of Peace


I
Origin

A Musca domestica filters the calm and acceptance of October 1st
over me
from the balcony window’s pale dawn in Norrbotten,
behind the thin threshold of the semitransparent curtain,
in the airspace between textile & the chill of glass,
in a space of light:
brittle, hard, precipitous,
as October’s rawness carries the fly’s meandering vibrato
through the faltering interplay of sorrow & hope,
when the winged creature’s involuntary agency as Prince of Peace
releases my morning-body
from the glossy fir-needle clutch of doubt
at the edge of life expectancy
at the annual-ringing of autumn-hardy bellflowers,
in a fly-peace, thin and strong,
like the distant sawmill-hum
in old ethnological literature,
or the far-off gantry-squeal of an ironworks silhouette
across inlets and black forest-horizons
out by the Baltic coast of Sörmland,
noted in a palliative patient’s last remnant of perception
in a hospital ward high up in Nyköping’s infirmary
when October awakens
and autumn’s chill resonance clings
up the hospital walls
in the slow-metabolized wolf-hour of early dawn.

II
Distilled / Mythic


From the pale dawn of Norrbotten
a Musca domestica descends,
sifting calm through the thin threshold of curtains,
an envoy of brittle light,
its vibrato threading sorrow & hope
into one trembling fabric.

O involuntary Prince of Peace—
you free my body at the brink of time,
loosening doubt’s fir-needle clutch,
ringing through autumn’s bellflowers,
a fly-peace, thin yet strong,
resonant as distant sawmills,
ironworks crying across horizons.

Thus noted by the dying,
whose last perception gathers
in a hospital ward above Nyköping,
when October awakens
and the chill of dawn
clings to the walls
in the wolf-hour of the world.

III
Fragmentary


pale dawn / Norrbotten
a fly filters calm

thin threshold of curtain
space of brittle light

vibrato of sorrow & hope
involuntary Prince of Peace

fir-needle clutch of doubt
life’s margin

bellflowers swaying / autumn rings
fly-peace, thin and strong

distant sawmill-hum
ironworks across horizons

last perception / hospital ward
Nyköping / October’s awakening

wolf-hour
early dawn clings to walls




Poetry by Ingvar Loco Nordin The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 86 times
Written on 2025-10-01 at 15:49

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