MOURNING CLOAK

Helvi Juvonen(1919-1959)

To a one I wanted to give green meadows and peace,

to give the knelling heard on the borders of death.

From its cocoon a butterfly separated:

the speech of my mouth

flew as a mourning cloak.

Suruvaippa has been translated from Uuden runon kauneimmat 1(1970, 1. printing 1968), pages 103-104, an anthology which was edited by Hannu Mäkelä(1943-).This anthology itself was selected from an earlier one, which had been edited by Osmo Hormia(1926-83), Uuden runon kauneimmat : valikoima modernia suomalaista lyriikkaa vuosilta 1946-1956(1958).