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Gedicht

Noel Rowe

Bangkok never really sleeps

Bangkok never really sleeps

Bangkok never really sleeps

Bangkok never really sleeps, it turns
it seems endlessly in and out of streets
that once were klongs, but now

are fierce cement, where motorbikes and cars,
quick and greedy, grasp each other’s fumes.

You lay awake and watched his back,
hoping there to find a place where beauty was
invincible, but saw instead the rise and fall of breath.

He spoke of love, water buffaloes and going home,
and if you know now
it was a lie, do not hate him, there isn’t time.

Today, when you visit Wat Phra Keo
to see a Buddha carved green as deep water,
you’ll hear the wind release the temple bells:

Ani’chung. Impermanent. There isn’t hate,
isn’t love. Ani’chung. There isn’t time.

Ani’chung, ani’chung, ani’chung.
Noel  Rowe

Noel Rowe

(Australië, 1951 - 2007)

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Bangkok never really sleeps

Bangkok never really sleeps, it turns
it seems endlessly in and out of streets
that once were klongs, but now

are fierce cement, where motorbikes and cars,
quick and greedy, grasp each other’s fumes.

You lay awake and watched his back,
hoping there to find a place where beauty was
invincible, but saw instead the rise and fall of breath.

He spoke of love, water buffaloes and going home,
and if you know now
it was a lie, do not hate him, there isn’t time.

Today, when you visit Wat Phra Keo
to see a Buddha carved green as deep water,
you’ll hear the wind release the temple bells:

Ani’chung. Impermanent. There isn’t hate,
isn’t love. Ani’chung. There isn’t time.

Ani’chung, ani’chung, ani’chung.

Bangkok never really sleeps

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
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