Agitated Meditation by Tomas Tranströmer

"The one who goes out to sea comes back hardened."

Agitated Meditation
by Tomas Tranströmer
translated by Patty Crane

A storm whips the wings of the mill around
in the darkness of night, grinding nothing.—You
            are kept awake by the very same laws.
The gray shark's belly is your faint lamp.

Hazy memories sink toward the ocean depths
and solidify into strange statues.—Green
            with algae is your crutch. The one who
goes out to sea comes back hardened.

From The Blue House: Collected Works of Tomas Tranströmer, translated by Patty Crane (Copper Canyon Press, 2023).