
The Moving Finger writes, and having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a Word of it.
These are words written by Omar Khayyam (1048-1143) who wrote thousands of quatrains in his lifetime. He was best known as a mathematician and an astronomer, but now he is mostly known for his work of philosophical and metaphysical poetry, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
I've always been fascinated by poetry. Well, all literature for that matter. When I was a kid, the best thing I knew was to cuddle up in the sofa, or in the back of our boat, disappearing into the world of whichever book I was reading. I remember being so sad, or devastated really, when the book came to an end. Often, I would cry, missing the company of the characters I’d gotten to know. The friendships were over and the world I had created was gone, only to be left in my memory. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my own world, like my family and friends and such… I was just longing for something more, something different and yet undiscovered to me. I think it was about that time as well, or no, it must have been a few years later, when I started writing myself. I actually started to write a book, hilarious I know, but still… An 11 year old girl, writing a science fiction book, quite similar to Harry Potter, isn’t that cute? Well, it was a long time ago anyway. I didn’t finish the book though, I got bored (go figure) but I actually started to write a few poems and other, texts, if that’s what I’m to call them.
Anyway, here is my favourite Swedish poem Höstens sista blomma by Edith Södergran
Jag är höstens sista blomma.
Jag blev vaggad uti sommarens vagga,
jag blev ställd på vakt mot nordens vind,
röda flammor slogo ut på min vita kind.
Jag är höstens sista blomma.
Jag är den döda vårens yngsta frö,
det är så lätt att som den sista dö;

jag har sett sjön så sagolik och blå,
jag hört den döda sommarens hjärta slå,
min kalk bär intet annat frö än dödens.
Jag är höstens sista blomma.
Jag har sett höstens djupa stjärnevärldar,
jag skådat ljus från fjärran varma härdar,
det är så lätt att följa samma väg,
jag skall stänga dödens portar.
Jag är höstens sista blomma.