A gust roused the waves,
leaves blew into the water,
the waves were ash-gray,
the sky tin-gray,
ash-gray the autumn.

It was good for my heart:
there my feelings were ash-gray,
the sky tin-gray,
ash-gray the autumn.

The breath of wind brought cooler air,
the waves of mourning brought separation:
autumn and autumn
befriend each other.

It must be somewhere, the original harmony,
somewhere in great nature, hidden.
Is it in the furious infinite,
in distant stars’ orbits,
is it in the sun’s scorn,
in a tiny flower, in treegossip,
in heartmusic’s mothersong
or in tears?
It must be somewhere, immortality,
Somewhere the original harmony must be found:
how else could it infuse
the human soul,
that music?

These works were translated by Juri Talvet and H.L. Hix.

 “Music” and “Leaves Fell” first appeared in the June 2011 issue of “Poetry Magazine”.

Juhan Liiv is featured in Edition: Small Wonder