Poem
James Fenton
The Alibi
HET ALIBI
Mijn geest raasde rond.Het was een paar jaar terug.
We waren weer samen in onze oude flat.
Je stond er je hoed te passen, koket.
‘O, ik was natuurlijk gek,’ lachte je met verontschuldigende blik,
‘er knapte iets in mij en ik was even niet goed snik.’
Maar ik walgde van jouw hysterie,
Dit alibi,
Die fraaie gekte als een rinkelende slee
Voerde je mee.
Knus in je pels, knus in je mof en je kapje
Kijk, zo ontsnap je,
Door de nacht, over de poederbesneeuwde laan
Zag ik je gaan.
***
Zeker, gekken verdienen medelij
En jij werd stapelgek, zei je, van mij.
En weg reed je,
Tussen hoge kussens en bont,
Lekker gek en gewond,
Vol excuses op je volgeladen sleetje.
© Vertaling: 2008, Rob Schouten
The Alibi
My mind was racing.It was some years from now.
We were together again in our old flat.
You were admiring yourself adjusting your hat.
‘Oh of course I was mad then,’ you said with a forgiving smile,
‘Something snapped in me and I was mad for a while.’
But this madness of yours disgusted me,
This alibi,
This gorgeous madness like a tinkling sleigh,
It carried you away
Snug in your fur, snug in your muff and cape.
You made your escape
Through the night, over the dry powdery snow.
I watched you go.
***
Truly the mad deserve our sympathy.
And you were driven mad you said by me.
And then you drove away,
The cushions and the furs piled high,
Snug with your madness alibi,
Injured and forgiven on your loaded sleigh.
© 2006, James Fenton
From: Selected Poems
Publisher: Penguin, London
‘The Alibi’ is an extract from Tsunami, A Song Cycle.
From: Selected Poems
Publisher: Penguin, London
James Fenton
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1949)
James Fenton is a poet for whom ivory towers have long ceased to exist. His work is enacted in the midst of our world and is full of political and social charges. Already in his earliest poems, ‘Our Western Furniture’ for example, which is about the clash between American and Japanese culture, he displays his engagement. The Far East in particular, where he travelled a great deal as a journalis...
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The Alibi
My mind was racing.It was some years from now.
We were together again in our old flat.
You were admiring yourself adjusting your hat.
‘Oh of course I was mad then,’ you said with a forgiving smile,
‘Something snapped in me and I was mad for a while.’
But this madness of yours disgusted me,
This alibi,
This gorgeous madness like a tinkling sleigh,
It carried you away
Snug in your fur, snug in your muff and cape.
You made your escape
Through the night, over the dry powdery snow.
I watched you go.
***
Truly the mad deserve our sympathy.
And you were driven mad you said by me.
And then you drove away,
The cushions and the furs piled high,
Snug with your madness alibi,
Injured and forgiven on your loaded sleigh.
From: Selected Poems
‘The Alibi’ is an extract from Tsunami, A Song Cycle.
The Alibi
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