A friend reached out to me the other day and told me he’d been touched by one of my poems after hearing my mother read it at a dinner party.
I usually write in English, but I’d also made a Swedish version of this poem and framed it as a birthday gift for my sister. So today I thought I’d share both versions here.
The English version, “Don’t Ask Me What’s Gone,” was first published in Still Here Magazine and is also included in my poetry collection The Quiet Archive.
Don’t Ask Me What’s Gone
“What have you lost?” you ask.
I no longer know.
It sank away years ago—
behind old travel trunks
with broken seams,
clothes still scented with time.
Books with torn covers,
faded photographs,
leather cracked by light.
Newspapers wrapped around
porcelain so fine
that still shattered
when the wind came through.
So don’t ask me
what is no longer here.
Take me to the window,
where I can breathe fresh air—
where silence holds
room for me.
Du Frågar
Du frågar;
”vad har du förlorat?
Jag vet inte längre.
Det sjönk undan för åratal sedan—
bakom gamla resväskor
med spruckna sömmar,
kläder som doftar av tid.
Böcker med trasiga omslag,
bleknade fotografier,
läder som spruckit i ljuset.
Tidningsark lindade kring
sprött porslin
som ändå krossades
av en vind som drog förbi.
Så fråga mig inte
vad som inte längre finns.
För mig till fönstret,
där jag kan andas frisk luft—
där tystnaden lämnar
plats åt mig.
If you’re bilingual, I’d love to know: which version speaks to you more?
Until next time,
Jonna
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