Excerpts from
Butterfly Valley - a requiem
By Inger Christensen
I
Up they soar, the planet's butterflies,
pigments from the warm body of the earth,
cinnaber, ochre, phosphor yellow, gold
a swarm of basic elements aloft.
Is this flickering of wings only a shoal
of light particles, a quirk of perception?
Is it the dreamed summer hour of my childhood
shattered as by lightning lost in time?
No, this is the angel of light, who can paint
himself as dark mnemosyne Apollo,
as copper, hawk mothe, tiger swallowtail.
I se them with my blurred understanding
as feathers in the coverlet of haze
in Brajcino Valley's noon-hot air
Translated by Susanna Nied
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