Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Esther Raab

Eyes like torches at the gate

Eyes like torches at the gate,
this is where we’ll enter,
there are no musicians here,
just a continuous sound humming
like a buzz of grasshoppers
on summer afternoons.
I’ll bury my face in the sand,
like a camel searching out lost routes;
I’ll extend a long leg
beyond the boundaries of being – 
two torches at the gate,
and on the brow as prescribed:
“Come, enter.”
Like grasshoppers heavy with juice
we’ll leap inside the gate
where there already winds
a white lonely path.

Eyes like torches at the gate

Close

Eyes like torches at the gate

Eyes like torches at the gate,
this is where we’ll enter,
there are no musicians here,
just a continuous sound humming
like a buzz of grasshoppers
on summer afternoons.
I’ll bury my face in the sand,
like a camel searching out lost routes;
I’ll extend a long leg
beyond the boundaries of being – 
two torches at the gate,
and on the brow as prescribed:
“Come, enter.”
Like grasshoppers heavy with juice
we’ll leap inside the gate
where there already winds
a white lonely path.

Eyes like torches at the gate

Eyes like torches at the gate,
this is where we’ll enter,
there are no musicians here,
just a continuous sound humming
like a buzz of grasshoppers
on summer afternoons.
I’ll bury my face in the sand,
like a camel searching out lost routes;
I’ll extend a long leg
beyond the boundaries of being – 
two torches at the gate,
and on the brow as prescribed:
“Come, enter.”
Like grasshoppers heavy with juice
we’ll leap inside the gate
where there already winds
a white lonely path.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère