Hope -- Edith Sodergran

Guest poem sent in by Vidur

(Poem #1122) Hope I want to let go - so I don't give a damn about fine writing, I'm rolling my sleeves up. The dough's rising... Oh what a shame I can't bake cathedrals... that sublimity of style I've always yearned for... Child of our time - haven't you found the right shell for your soul? Before I die I *shall* bake a cathedral. -- Edith Sodergran

isn't this a great little poem? i think you can almost *feel* the range of
emotions sodergran expresses, emotions anyone who has pursued an elusive
dream can identify with. you want to just give it all up, your every effort
is frustrated, you're almost there... if you could only...  - and you feel
all of this at the same time!

i think all of us need a little hope in our lives. even if it's "false".

someday, i shall bake a cathedral...

-v

editing notes: the *'s around 'shall' in the last line are only there
because i couldn't reproduce the italics. but the ellipses are actually
in the verse. i have to wonder whether the original nordic verse had
them. i don't like them or their placement much, but after thinking
about it, perhaps they do work to visually reinforce the notion of
'hope'.

about the poet: edith sodergran was a swedish poet, who wrote in the
early 1900's.