Poem

Ed Leeflang

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THE READING LESSON

When they start to connect the signs
with things that they possess, doll, lip
or know, man, lamb, I see
how solemnly they are absorbed
in the exacting tale: Ann eats.
How about John?

In vain I look back for the moment
when this happened to me
the rapture or disaster of literacy.

I don\'t know if it took
or gave. I have been all my life,
I think, in love, betrayed
and literate.

Wanneer zij tekens gaan verbinden

Wanneer zij tekens gaan verbinden
met dingen die ze hebben, pop en lip,
of kennen, man en lam, zie ik
hoe ernstig ze verzinken
in de veeleisende roman: Ans eet.
Eet Kees?

Vruchteloos zoek ik het moment
waarop datzelfde mij is overkomen,
geluk of ramp van de belezenheid.

Ik weer niet of het nam of gaf.
Ik denk dat ik zolang ik leef
verliefd, bedrogen en geletterd
ben geweest.

Ed Leeflang

Ed Leeflang

(The Netherlands, 1929 - 2008)

Ed Leeflang worked for a few years as a journalist, studied Dutch letters and literature and spent twelve years as a grammar school teacher in Zeeland province. He returned to Amsterdam to teach a teachers’ training college, where he concentrated on the methodics of language teaching. Not until his fiftieth year did Leeflang publish his first collection of poems De hazen en andere gedichten (Th...

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SWIMMING LATE

ODE

PEN

Couple

SPY

Cows

THE SANDERLING

THE READING LESSON

REGARDING THE EVIL ONE

ON BEHALF OF THE SIMPLE ONE

Close

THE READING LESSON

When they start to connect the signs
with things that they possess, doll, lip
or know, man, lamb, I see
how solemnly they are absorbed
in the exacting tale: Ann eats.
How about John?

In vain I look back for the moment
when this happened to me
the rapture or disaster of literacy.

I don\'t know if it took
or gave. I have been all my life,
I think, in love, betrayed
and literate.

THE READING LESSON

When they start to connect the signs
with things that they possess, doll, lip
or know, man, lamb, I see
how solemnly they are absorbed
in the exacting tale: Ann eats.
How about John?

In vain I look back for the moment
when this happened to me
the rapture or disaster of literacy.

I don\'t know if it took
or gave. I have been all my life,
I think, in love, betrayed
and literate.

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