^{translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell}

The soft-spoken friendship between women
is made of wistful reminiscing,
is made of crisp, yellow confessions
traced absently in sunlit dust.

It lives near children and must disguise
its distinct nature and scent a little.
Under the table and linen and teacups
it hides a sweetness no one may see.

Close to a kitchen, a striking clock,
and close to the husband’s taut net of veins,
close to the husband himself, his heartbeat,
his deep-rooted expectation day and night –

this friendship, ardent and unspoken,
can only vibrate like a poem
carrying between its lines a want
the poet has never called by name.