The Half-Finished Heaven

Book excerpt: From the Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature The contemporary Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer is a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature and has a prestigious worldwide reputation. Robert Bly, a longtime friend and confidant of Tranströmer's, as well as one of his first translators, has carefully chosen and translated the finest of Tranströmer's poems to create this cherished and invaluable collection. Contents Introduction: "Upward into the Depths" by Robert Bly 1 From 17 Poems (1954) Secrets on the Road (1958) The Half-Finished Heaven (1962) Evening—Morning Storm The Man Awakened by a Song above His Roof Track Kyrie After the Attack Balakirev's Dream (1905) The Couple Allegro Lamento The Tree and the Sky A Winter Night Dark Shape Swimming The Half-Finished Heaven Nocturne 2 From Resonance and Footprints (1966) Night Vision (1970) Open and Closed Space From an African Diary Morning Bird Songs Summer Grass About History After a Death Under Pressure Slow Music Out in the Open Solitude Breathing Space July The Open Window s26Preludes The Bookcase Outskirts Going with the Current Traffic Night Duty A Few Moments The Name Standing Up 3 From Pathways (1973) Truth Barriers (1978) Elegy The Scattered Congregation Snow-Melting Time, '66 Further In Late May December Evening, '72 Seeing through the Ground Guard Duty Along the Lines (Far North) At Funchal (Island of Madeira) Calling Home Citoyens For Mats and Laila After a Long Dry Spell A Place in the Woods Street Crossing Below Freezing Start of a Late Autumn Novel From the Winter of 1947 The Clearing Schubertiana 4 From The Wild Market Square (1983) For the Living and the Dead (1989) Grief Gondola (1996) From March '79 Fire Script Black Postcards Romanesque Arches The Forgotten Commander Vermeer The Cuckoo The Kingdom of Uncertainty Three Stanzas Two Cities Island Life, 1860 April and Silence Grief Gondola #2