There is Peace Beyond All
There exists something that fits nowhere
and yet is in no way remarkable
and yet is decisive
and yet is outside it all.
There exists something which is noticed just when it is not noticeable
(like silence)
and is not noticed just when it becomes noticeable
for then it is mistaken (like silence) for something else.
See the waves under the sky. Storm is surface
and storm our way of seeing.
(What do I care for the waves or the seventh wave.)
There is an emptiness between the waves:
Look at the sea. Look at the stones of the field.
There is an emptiness between the stones:
They did not break loose—they did not throw themselves here,
They lie there and exist—a part of the rock sheath.
So make yourself heavy—make use of your dead weight,
let it break you, let it throw you, fall down,
let it leave you shipwrecked on the rock!
(What do I care about the rock.)
There are universes, suns, and atoms.
There is a knowledge, carefully built on strong points.
There is a knowledge, unprotected, built on insecure emptiness.
There is an emptiness between universes, suns, and atoms.
(What do I care about universes, suns, and atoms.)
There is an odd viewpoint on everything
in this double life.
There is peace beyond all.
There is peace behind all.
There is peace inside all.
Concealed in the hand.
Concealed in the pen.
Concealed in the ink.
I feel peace everywhere.
I smell peace behind everything.
I see and hear peace inside everything,
monotonous peace beyond everything.
(What do I care about peace.)
~Gunnar Ekelöf, from ‘Variations’, trans. by Robert Bly
(Photo by Martin Rak)
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