Come, Sit by the Hearth ...

alphabet [excerpt]        
by Inger Christensen
Translated by Susanna Nied

1
apricot trees exist, apricot trees exist

2
bracken exists; and blackberries, blackberries;
bromine exists; and hydrogen, hydrogen

3
cicadas exist; chicory, chromium,
citrus trees; cicadas exist;
cicadas, cedars, cypresses, the cerebellum

4
doves exist, dreamers, and dolls;
killers exist, and doves, and doves;
haze, dioxin, and days; days
exist, days and death; and poems
exist; poems, days, death


excerpt from: alphabet by Inger Christensen, translated by Susanna Nied. Copyright © 2000 Inger Christensen