Poem
Tom Van de Voorde
Picnic for Strangers
You recognise the boat by the butterfly scratched on the prow,the bundle of sage, bruised when a buoy was cast overboard.
Blue with white reminds me of the course of the clouds
in a water barrel, waiting for villages and women
in summer. I now know what the doves mean
when they lay their clutch in a flag.
No one mentioned when the fleet would lay anchor.
Dreams blossom late with no visitors to expect.
Leave me behind, like you would a greeting at a garden gate,
paying no heed to who will hear it first.
Or take me to a door nearby twilight.
Show me what the sea recounts when it returns onto itself.
I embrace a wave and scream that I will change.
I utter what the fearful do, tormented by a star gleaming
in the surf. The song in the guitar of
the stranger is still to come.
Don’t leave the house in a hurry.
Nothing forbids this place to wait.
The myth of the stranger is still to come,
while you can see those in hiding, fearing happiness.
How fearful will I be by the end of the song that my dream,
blue or white, will no longer come.
Perhaps the strangers lost their way
on their way to the picnic for strangers.
© Translation: 2013, Astrid Alben
After Darwish
De vreemdelingenpicknik
De vreemdelingenpicknik
Je herkent de boot aan de gekraste vlinder op de boeg,de salietakken, afgeknakt bij het uitgooien van een boei.
Blauw met wit herinnert me aan de baan van de wolken
in een waterton, wachtend op dorpen en vrouwen
in de zomer. Ik weet nu wat de duiven bedoelen
als ze hun nest in een vlag proberen te leggen.
Niemand had gezegd wanneer de vloot moest komen.
Dromen bloeien laat als ze niet op gasten wachten.
Laat me hier achter, zoals een groet aan het hek van een tuin,
geen acht slaand op wie hem voor het eerst zal horen.
Of neem me mee naar een deur bij de schemering.
Laat me zien wat de zee vertelt wanneer ze zich terugtrekt.
Ik omhels een golf en schreeuw dat ik zal veranderen.
Ik zeg wat angsthazen doen, gekweld door een ster
in de branding. Het lied in de gitaar van
de vreemdeling moet nog komen.
Wees niet gehaast als je het huis verlaat.
Niets verbiedt deze plek om te wachten.
De mythe van de vreemdeling moet nog komen,
terwijl jij kunt zien wie zich verschuilt, bang voor het geluk.
Op het eind van het lied, hoe bevreesd zal ik zijn
dat mijn droom, blauw of wit, niet langer zal komen.
Misschien raakten de vreemdelingen de weg kwijt
op weg naar de picknick voor vreemdelingen.
© 2013, Astrid Alben
From: Liefde en aarde
Publisher: Poëziecentrum, Gent
From: Liefde en aarde
Publisher: Poëziecentrum, Gent
Naar Darwish
Poems
Poems of Tom Van de Voorde
Close
Picnic for Strangers
You recognise the boat by the butterfly scratched on the prow,the bundle of sage, bruised when a buoy was cast overboard.
Blue with white reminds me of the course of the clouds
in a water barrel, waiting for villages and women
in summer. I now know what the doves mean
when they lay their clutch in a flag.
No one mentioned when the fleet would lay anchor.
Dreams blossom late with no visitors to expect.
Leave me behind, like you would a greeting at a garden gate,
paying no heed to who will hear it first.
Or take me to a door nearby twilight.
Show me what the sea recounts when it returns onto itself.
I embrace a wave and scream that I will change.
I utter what the fearful do, tormented by a star gleaming
in the surf. The song in the guitar of
the stranger is still to come.
Don’t leave the house in a hurry.
Nothing forbids this place to wait.
The myth of the stranger is still to come,
while you can see those in hiding, fearing happiness.
How fearful will I be by the end of the song that my dream,
blue or white, will no longer come.
Perhaps the strangers lost their way
on their way to the picnic for strangers.
© 2013, Astrid Alben
From: Liefde en aarde
From: Liefde en aarde
After Darwish
Picnic for Strangers
You recognise the boat by the butterfly scratched on the prow,the bundle of sage, bruised when a buoy was cast overboard.
Blue with white reminds me of the course of the clouds
in a water barrel, waiting for villages and women
in summer. I now know what the doves mean
when they lay their clutch in a flag.
No one mentioned when the fleet would lay anchor.
Dreams blossom late with no visitors to expect.
Leave me behind, like you would a greeting at a garden gate,
paying no heed to who will hear it first.
Or take me to a door nearby twilight.
Show me what the sea recounts when it returns onto itself.
I embrace a wave and scream that I will change.
I utter what the fearful do, tormented by a star gleaming
in the surf. The song in the guitar of
the stranger is still to come.
Don’t leave the house in a hurry.
Nothing forbids this place to wait.
The myth of the stranger is still to come,
while you can see those in hiding, fearing happiness.
How fearful will I be by the end of the song that my dream,
blue or white, will no longer come.
Perhaps the strangers lost their way
on their way to the picnic for strangers.
© 2013, Astrid Alben
After Darwish
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