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Older Elektra

translated from the Swedish by Johannes Göransson

The great tit chirps in the january darkness
Or sparrows Girls I don’t know Just sounds
They suggest hope
Do the dead forget to die in the dark
All kinds of people take deep breaths
They shouldn’t chirp
Birds make patterns of sound
Inside and outside my head
My brain is dragged like stones
Dragged by ox children up a mountain
Stones buried in cliffs of snow
I have waited in the scant night
I can wait without light or children
We always cry too late, it is said,
and always sing too soon

 


 

Äldre Elektra

 

Talgoxen kvittrar i januarimörkret
Eller sparvarna Flickorna Jag vet inte Ljud bara
Glömmer de döda att dö i mörkret
Alla möjliga människor andas tungt
De måste inte kvittra
Mönstret av fåglar låter
Inuti och utanför huvudet
Hjärnan släpas som stenar
Dragna av oxbarn uppför ett berg
Stenar begravda i klippor i snö
Jag har väntat i den glesa natten
Jag kan vänta utan ljus och barn
Man gråter alltid försent, sägs det
och sjunger alltid för tidigt

Copyright © 2026 by Jenny Tunedal, translated by Johannes Göransson. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 15, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Jenny Tunedal

Jenny Tunedal
Courtesy of Jenny Tunedal
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Maya C. Popa is the Guest Editor for September. Read or listen to a Q&A with Maya about her curatorial process, and learn more about the 2026 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

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Adjacent, Against, Upon Rick Barot 05/07/2019
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Prompts (for High School Teachers Who Write Poetry) Dante Di Stefano 05/04/2019
Magpies Recognize Themselves in the Mirror Kelli Russell Agodon 05/03/2019
Ultrasound Kaveh Akbar 05/02/2019
A Skull Dana Levin 05/01/2019
Miscegenation Nick Laird 04/30/2019
in lieu of a poem, i’d like to say Danez Smith 04/29/2019
An Adieu Florence Earle Coates 04/28/2019
Fides, Spes Willa Cather 04/27/2019

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