AMBER Poem by Tua Birgitta Forsström

I have an amber ring that
shimmers through the lake's water

I dive, stir up the silt, particles
of minerals loosen and float along

the bottom, just like the oak-blossom bud's
starry hairs floated and were enclosed in the stone

then, during the time of sabre-toothed tigers
and small horses

in the sub-tropical forests with elderberry
and camphor trees here, where we live in houses

You see more clearly underwater
You see more clearly when you are sick

I dive into the cool water, stir up
silt, particles float slowly, minerals

like the oak-blossom bud's starry hairs float
in amber through thirty million years, shimmering

in the lake's water when I dive, everything
is stirred up, gets cloudy, shimmers