I first heard Tomas Tranströmer's Madrigal when a Swedish colleague chose to read it my leaving party many years ago, for a job that I loved. That means I first heard it rather than read it, which makes me very happy. The final line about the shirt always conjured images of a bright white shirt, reflecting sunshine and flapping on the breeze on the clothesline. This is the line I searched for when I tried to find the poem later.

I get a sense of simplicity when speaking this poem aloud, conveyed by what feel like natural breaks in the rhythm of the words. I love the imagery of it, the contrast between dark & light and the repeated line about the dark woods leading first to uncertainty and unsolvable crimes, and secondly to spring and to movement.

If you'd like to read the poem you can find it here: https://nataliejabbar.wordpress.com/tag/madrigal/