Kusän valkeaa, kesän vihreää,
veden siintoa välitse puiden,
Valon virrassa laineet väräjää
liki tervaista venhettä uiden.

Kaks kaulaa pehmeän ruskeaa,
kaks kiharatukkaista päätä,
kaks ruumista nuorta ja notkeaa
juo hiljaista hellesäätä.

Pesi vilvaaks äsken hipiän
joen raikas, noukkiva laine.
Katos mielestä jäljet ikävän-
viri tuoksuva kaikki sai ne.

Sinen rannattomuutta katsellen
vajos molemmat rinteen hiekkaan.
Pian sulkee luomet silmien
sädetulva auringon viekkaan.

The white, the green of Summer,
The sight of water through the wood.
In a stream of light, the waves shiver,
Next to a tarry boat, swimming good.

A pair of throats so soft and brown,
A pair of heads with such curly hair,
A pair of young bodies with no frown
are drinking such silent hot weather.

The fresh river wave that grasps you
Just washed our skin, soothing its fire
Away from my mind, lovesickness flew-
The scenting flow took the thing entire.

Staring at the infinity of the blue color,
Both did sink into the inclination sand.
Soon my eyelids will close on the odor,
It is a ray flood of Sun hot as a brand.

Kaarlo Sarkia, Rannalta (From the Shore)

Born in the Kokemäenjoki River municipality of Kiikka in May of 1902, Kaarlo Sarkia was a Finnish poet and translator of French and Italian poetry. One of the most prominent poets of Finland in the 1930s, he examined in his work the issues of love and childhood memories as well as suffering and death.

The only child of Aleksandra Sulin, Kaarlo Sarkia’s early life was marked by poverty and instability. His mother succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis in February of 1916, an event that deeply affected the young teenager. After a period of care by his maternal grandparents, Sarkia was given shelter by his godmother Hilda Runni, a local weaver who provided modest support. Reclusive by nature and an extensive reader, he excelled in his studies at the secondary school in Tyrvää, During his school years, Sarkia became interested in poetry; he also became aware of his gay identity.

After his 1923 graduation, Sarkia fulfilled his military service for Finland in the spring of 1924 and, for one year, accepted employment as a private tutor in southern city of Rantasalmi. Initially enrolled at the University of Helsinki, Sarkia transferred to the University of Turku where he became a member of the literary circle led by Professor Veikko Antero Koskenniemi, one of Finland’s most popular writers. Through studies with a Swiss teacher, Sarkia became proficient in both French and German; however, his studies were interrupted frequently by poverty and health setbacks, including the tuberculosis he acquired during his military service.

Kaarlo Sarkia’s first collection of poetry, “Kahlitttu (Chained)” was published in 1929. His second collection, the 1931 “Velka Elämälle (The Debt to Life)”, included the poem “Antinous” which examined the homoerotic love relationship between Antinous and Roman emperor Hadrian. Little attention was given to these initial collections. However, Sarkia soon gained recognition for his 1932 translation of French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s symbolist poem“Le Bateau Ivre”, a vivid fragmented first-person narrative written at the age of sixteen. In December of 1933, he became employed at the city of Turku’s university library under chief librarian Volter Kilpi, the Finnish author of the newly published two-volume novel “Alastalon Salissa (Alatalo’s Parlour)”.

Reclusive and shy by nature, Sarkia had moved restlessly from place to place since his release from military service. He lived in inexpensive rooms, suffered from poverty and loneliness, and was hospitalized several times for his tuberculosis. Although he had faithful friends who often supported him financially, Sarkia tried to commit suicide in January of 1934 by taking an overdose of the barbiturate Veronal. Previous to the suicide attempt, he had just written a new poem entitled “Älä Elämäa Pelkää (Don’t be Afraid of Life)”.

Kaarlo Sarkia’s third collection of poetry, “Unen Kaivo (The Well of Dreams)”, was a commercial and critical success. Although several of its poems dealt with loneliness and death, these themes never dominated the collection. The title poem “Unen Kaivo” presented a melancholic dream refuge in which the poet lies peacefully on golden sand while listening to the sounds of reeds and waves. A second poem in this collection, considered one of his best, was “Barcarola”, named for the traditional song of Venetian gondoliers and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s reflective poem “Die Sonne Sinkt (The Sun is Setting)”.

Sarkia traveled abroad for over a year, spending several months in Switzerland before traveling to Italy. In Rome, he made a speech against Hitler and was detained briefly by the Italian parliamentary police.  Althouigh Sarkia composed only a few poems on this journey; these works  spoke to the joy he experienced on his travels. After returning to Finland in 1943, he settled in Helsinki with a pension from the government and a monthly payment from his publisher Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. However at this time, Sarkia’s health was beginning to fail.

Although experiencing fatigue, Kaarlo Sarkia read the original Italian version of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and translated the Italian poems of poets Giacomo Leopardi, Giovanni Pascoli, and Gabriele D’Annunzio. Sarkia’s fourth poetry collection, “Kohtalon Vaaka (The Scale of Fate)” was published in 1943 during the middle of World War II at a time when Finland was fighting as an ally of the Axis. This collection did not contain the patriotic propaganda of contemporary writers but several pacifist and anti-war poems. In 1944, Sarkia edited his collections in one single published volume under the title “Runot (Poems)”.

As World War II was ending, Sarkia traveled to Sweden to spend a period at a local sanatorium for his health. By the end of his stay in Sweden, Sarkia’s weight had dropped to fifty kilos (one hundred and ten pounds). Upon his return to Finland, Sarkia traveled to the city of Sysmä where he received care from two sisters whom he had previously met. On the sixteenth of November in 1945, Kaarlo Sarkia died at the age of forty-three from tuberculosis. His body was buried at state expense in Helsinki.

In 1952, the Sarkia-Seura literary society was founded in Sysmä  to honor and promote the life and literary legacy of Kaarlo Sarkia. The Villa Sarkia, located in Sysmä, is a residency center for writers, translators and working groups; applicants may apply regardless of language, nationality or genre. In 1959, the Sarkia Museum was established at the historical house in the Kiikka district of Sastamala, Finland, where Sarkia once lived with his godmother Hilda Runni.

Notes: A biography of Kaarlo Sarkia can be found at the Books and Writers site at: http://authorscalendar.info/sarkia.htm

The Books from Finland archive has an article on Kaarlo Sarkia and a short poem translated by David McDuff: https://www.booksfromfinland.fi/2014/05/debt-to-life/

Top Insert Image: Ivar Helander, “Kaarlo Sarkia”, Date Unknown, Gelatin Silver Print, The Literary Archives/Finnish Literary Society

Second Insert Image: Kaarlo Sarkia, “Runoja”, 1966, Publisher Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (WSOY)

Third Insert Image: Kaarlo Sarkia, “Kohtalon Vaaka”, 1943/2013, Publisher Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (WSOY)

Bottom Insert Image: Kaarlo Sarkia, “Velka Elämälle”, 1931, Publisher Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (WSOY)