Poem
Eva Gerlach
THE DOORPOSTS AND THE COVERED WINDOWS
For that I once have loved you, that’s for sure.The rest not – whether you existed
and if, what colour eyes then, green at times,
at others grey, a swarm of swallows once
shot out of them. What kind. Those swift ones
that can’t walk right, mating takes place in the air.
What happened. You got
ill or something, lost from sight, there was lots to do,
I had another child I think, forgot you
until I heard you tonight, impossible hour,
come it’s time. Leave everything, come outside,
I’m waiting for you by the gate.
But when I stood there, the bolt
was loose, it clanged in the wind
against the post and I shot it home and went back,
thinking of you, that godknows you really had
stood there somehow, had undone
the gate, that I have loved you once and that
the wood hung on the hinges out of true.
© Translation: 2006, John Irons
De dorpelen en de gesloten vensters
De dorpelen en de gesloten vensters
Want dat ik van je heb gehouden, dat staat vast.De rest niet – of je bestond
en als, wat dan voor kleur ogen, de ene keer groen,
dan weer grijs, eens schoot er een zwerm
zwaluwen uit omhoog. Wat voor. Van die snelle,
die niet kunnen lopen, vrijen gebeurt in de lucht.
Hoe ging het. Je werd
ziek of zo, meegenomen, er was veel te doen,
ik kreeg geloof ik een nieuw kind en vergat je
tot ik je hoorde vannacht, onmogelijk uur,
kom het is tijd. Laat alles achter, kom buiten,
ik wacht op je bij het hek.
Maar toen ik daar stond, de grendel
was los, het sloeg in de wind
tegen de balk en ik maakte het vast en liep terug,
denkend aan je, dat je daar godweet echt
had gestaan, het hek losgedaan,
dat ik van je gehouden heb en dat
het hout niet goed in de scharnieren zat.
© 1990, Eva Gerlach
From: In een bocht van de zee
Publisher: De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam
From: In een bocht van de zee
Publisher: De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam
Poems
Poems of Eva Gerlach
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THE DOORPOSTS AND THE COVERED WINDOWS
For that I once have loved you, that’s for sure.The rest not – whether you existed
and if, what colour eyes then, green at times,
at others grey, a swarm of swallows once
shot out of them. What kind. Those swift ones
that can’t walk right, mating takes place in the air.
What happened. You got
ill or something, lost from sight, there was lots to do,
I had another child I think, forgot you
until I heard you tonight, impossible hour,
come it’s time. Leave everything, come outside,
I’m waiting for you by the gate.
But when I stood there, the bolt
was loose, it clanged in the wind
against the post and I shot it home and went back,
thinking of you, that godknows you really had
stood there somehow, had undone
the gate, that I have loved you once and that
the wood hung on the hinges out of true.
© 2006, John Irons
From: In een bocht van de zee
From: In een bocht van de zee
THE DOORPOSTS AND THE COVERED WINDOWS
For that I once have loved you, that’s for sure.The rest not – whether you existed
and if, what colour eyes then, green at times,
at others grey, a swarm of swallows once
shot out of them. What kind. Those swift ones
that can’t walk right, mating takes place in the air.
What happened. You got
ill or something, lost from sight, there was lots to do,
I had another child I think, forgot you
until I heard you tonight, impossible hour,
come it’s time. Leave everything, come outside,
I’m waiting for you by the gate.
But when I stood there, the bolt
was loose, it clanged in the wind
against the post and I shot it home and went back,
thinking of you, that godknows you really had
stood there somehow, had undone
the gate, that I have loved you once and that
the wood hung on the hinges out of true.
© 2006, John Irons
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