Poem
Matthew Sweeney
The Shadow Home
Het Schaduwhuis
Terwijl zijn dochter in de deur toekijktkan ze niet beseffen hoezeer
ze hem doorheeft - hoe hij telkens
als hij zijn plunjezak naar de bus draagt
zijn reis zal beëindigen in een ander huis
waar een andere dochter op hem zal wachten.
En een andere vrouw hem zal omhelzen
zoals haar moeder zojuist heeft gedaan,
en alledrie naar binnen zullen gaan.
Wat ze niet weet, zijn dochter, is waar -
een uithoek van Connecticut,
een eiland in de Atlantische Oceaan -
er zijn geen aanknopingspunten,
en ze zou hem er nooit naar vragen.
En lijkt haar schaduwzus op haar?
Is ze blond, is haar moeder blond,
spreken ze Engels, heeft haar vader
jarenlang een taal verborgen gehouden?
En neemt hij zijn andere dochter mee
op lange wandelingen door het dennenbos,
en vertelt hij haar over zijn reizen,
over de mensen die hij ontmoette, over zichzelf?
Er is zoveel aan haar vader
dat ze niet weet, en zo weinig tijd
tussen zijn afwezigheid om erachter te komen.
Weet haar schaduwzus van haar bestaan
of begint ze het te vermoeden?
Welke van de twee is het schaduwhuis?
The Shadow Home
As his daughter watches from the doorwayshe can’t realise how exactly
she has got him right – how each time
he carries his kitbag to the bus
he will end his journey at another house
where another daughter will wait for him.
And another wife will embrace him,
as her mother did just now,
and all three will go inside.
what she doesn’t know, his daughter, is where –
some corner of Connecticut,
some Atlantic island – there are no leads,
and she would never ask.
And does her shadow-sister look like her?
Is she blonde, is her mother blonde,
do they speak English, has her father
hidden a language for years?
And does he take his other daughter
on long walks through the pines,
and tell her about his travels,
about the people he’s met, about himself?
There is so much about her father
she does not know, and so little time
between his absences to learn it.
Does her shadow-sister know about her,
or does she begin to suspect?
Which of the two is the shadow home?
© 1989, Matthew Sweeney
From: Blue Shoes
Publisher: Martin Seeker and Warburg Limited, London
From: Blue Shoes
Publisher: Martin Seeker and Warburg Limited, London
Poems
Poems of Matthew Sweeney
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The Shadow Home
As his daughter watches from the doorwayshe can’t realise how exactly
she has got him right – how each time
he carries his kitbag to the bus
he will end his journey at another house
where another daughter will wait for him.
And another wife will embrace him,
as her mother did just now,
and all three will go inside.
what she doesn’t know, his daughter, is where –
some corner of Connecticut,
some Atlantic island – there are no leads,
and she would never ask.
And does her shadow-sister look like her?
Is she blonde, is her mother blonde,
do they speak English, has her father
hidden a language for years?
And does he take his other daughter
on long walks through the pines,
and tell her about his travels,
about the people he’s met, about himself?
There is so much about her father
she does not know, and so little time
between his absences to learn it.
Does her shadow-sister know about her,
or does she begin to suspect?
Which of the two is the shadow home?
From: Blue Shoes
The Shadow Home
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