En helt vanlig vals (A perfectly ordinary waltz)

The summer together with you was so short,
it hardly blossomed at all.
You came like the sun. But when it was gone
the garden had nothing at all.
Our summer together was nothing at all
for you – you were only a guest,
who only took part in a normal waltz
at a normal party, like the rest.

No, you thought nothing more of me
than that I took part in a dance.
I was quiet – but so glad to dance with you.
I was happy that you were there.

For me you were the sun. the water and earth,
for me you were the energy of summer.
For you I was air – and small normal words
is all we’ve had between us.
An ordinary arm was my arm ‘round your neck,
my hand was so ordinary in yours.
We danced a perfectly ordinary waltz.
And the happiness was only mine.

Yes, it is only a normal waltz
that makes me recall you, my friend.
But the waltz doesn’t feel normal at all
when humming it again.

It is about waiting that never ends,
about someone you’ll never see.
It is about the riddle you never solve,
about the gift you can never give.
I play my waltz in a melancholy way.
Then it opens the door ajar
to forgotten rooms, gives a glint, a shape,
a shadow of what I felt.