Gunnar Ekelof in Hadstock

I discovered this beautifully simple cabin/hut/den while walking through Hadstock, Essex, on Wednesday. The elegantly written text in Swedish can be literally (machine) translated as:

“I have written a preface to what I would have said.
But I have deleted it. – However, I wish
That before the dark pool over me
The last you see of me
Shall be a closed fist among water lilies
And the last thing you hear a word of bubbles
From the bottom.”

A creative transliteration renders it as:

“I have written an introduction
But it is now lost – But I hope
That before the waters sweep over me
You will see my triumphant fist among the lilies
And hear my last words bubbling up.”

It’s from ‘Among Waterlilies’ by Gunnar Ekelöf – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Ekel%C3%B6f
Read more of his (down beat) poetry – http://www.ekelut.dk/poems/e_p5en.html

Thanks to Dave Horan for the translation and sourcing

Photo: Hadstock, Essex, February 2015