Poem
Peter Verhelst
prompter
What could have been us:under all our clamour the man
who wasn’t here
keeps silent about the woman he knew,
and under all our silence the woman
who was here with the man she never met
clamours.
Each in a room of our own we look out
at the sea and what appears there, sunlight,
but we don’t know who we are,
never do we see who rises from the water
and looks at us without knowing our names.
Until the surf turns white
and they swim away again.
I longed
to protect everyone from the worst, but
the best is yet to come.
© Translation: 2018, David Colmer
souffleur
souffleur
Wat ons had kunnen zijn:onder al ons roepen zwijgt de man
die hier niet was
over de vrouw die hij heeft gekend,
en roept onder al ons zwijgen de vrouw
die hier is geweest
met de man die ze nooit heeft ontmoet.
We zitten elk in een kamer uit te kijken
over de zee naar wat daar opduikt, zonlicht,
maar we weten niet wie we zijn,
nooit zien we wie uit het water komen
en zonder onze naam te kennen naar ons kijken.
Tot de branding wit wordt
en ze weer wegzwemmen.
Zo graag
had ik iedereen behoed voor het ergste, maar
het beste moest nog komen.
© 2018, Peter Verhelst
From: Wat ons had kunnen zijn
Publisher: Stichting CPNB,
From: Wat ons had kunnen zijn
Publisher: Stichting CPNB,
Poems
Poems of Peter Verhelst
Close
prompter
What could have been us:under all our clamour the man
who wasn’t here
keeps silent about the woman he knew,
and under all our silence the woman
who was here with the man she never met
clamours.
Each in a room of our own we look out
at the sea and what appears there, sunlight,
but we don’t know who we are,
never do we see who rises from the water
and looks at us without knowing our names.
Until the surf turns white
and they swim away again.
I longed
to protect everyone from the worst, but
the best is yet to come.
© 2018, David Colmer
From: Wat ons had kunnen zijn
From: Wat ons had kunnen zijn
prompter
What could have been us:under all our clamour the man
who wasn’t here
keeps silent about the woman he knew,
and under all our silence the woman
who was here with the man she never met
clamours.
Each in a room of our own we look out
at the sea and what appears there, sunlight,
but we don’t know who we are,
never do we see who rises from the water
and looks at us without knowing our names.
Until the surf turns white
and they swim away again.
I longed
to protect everyone from the worst, but
the best is yet to come.
© 2018, David Colmer
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