This, my fourth book of poems, has 78 poems, which range from short to long, rhymed to un-rhymed, sonnets, haikus, meditations, and literary thoughts. The poems, penned between 1995 and 2001, are listed in chronological order. They are also listed as 37 long poems, 21 sonnets, and 20 short poems. The book was first published in 2002. I have revised and reformatted it for easier reading and brought it up to current poetical standards. Its emotional range covers love, grief, beauty, nature, joy, relationships, disappointments, humanity, philosophy, sexuality, child abuse, and death. Each poem is introduced by one or more poignant phrases to highlight the mood, broach the subject, and explain the setting. Such introductions facilitate reading and bring out the hidden meanings of metaphors. To understand a poem is to read and re-read it slowly, carefully, and meditatively. You know that you have understood a poem when you feel connected to its words and phrases as if they were old friends. To that end, I wish you would read the last poem first.

The contemporary Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer has a prestigious worldwide reputation-- many expect that he will someday win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Robert Bly, a longtime friend and confidant of Tranströmer’s, as well as one of his first translators, has carefully chosen and translated the finest of Tranströmer’s poems to create this collection.