...Sweden is a hauled-up, unrigged ship. Her masts stand stark in the twilight. And twilight lasts longer than day. The way here is stony: daylight waits until noon to reveal winter's coliseum, lit by unreal clouds.*
[*selected lines from 'Epilogue' by Tomas TRANSTROMER, as translated from the swedish by May Swenson]
...and so Stockholm stands tall even on land - the slender verticals of the thousands of masts around her many islands are replicated in the lamp posts, the soaring columns, the flag standards...and certainly no less than in the statuesque bearing of her fair citizens! 
