Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Philippe Beck

MOON

In the country of Constant Night
sky is a black sheet
and world a bed.
Or bed is a world.
Black sheet laid over it.
Day slumber
with linen of light.
Moon is far.
Stars are far.
Darkness rhymes with Pastness.
And black dust.
With white ornament.
The pale fire comes from there.
Apprentices change countries.
They go to the country where sun
appears and disappears.
Horizon is the shelf.
Lift brings sun
up to it.
Sun lights up the plateau.
Horizon is a plateau
where volumes go up
of ink especially.
In the land of ancient day,
night hangs from a tree.
The Solid tree.
Oak is source of light
in the dark.
Spring is a sphere in the tree.
It shines like a rounded curve.
Is Moon a silver sun
in the tree World?
It is silver-grey.
Astonishes the ‘prentices.
A white dream.
Fixed to the Oak for three ha’pennies?
Light invented
in a country of night?
There’s a full jar of oil
within it?
Round Lamp is bright.
Who is Lamplighter
or Responsible for Light?
An apprentice puts a black sheet
over the moon.
They carry moon off
to the land of official night.
There’s an oak-tree in the black country.
Sap is white blood.
New Light gives a new
cheeriness.
It silvers the gloomy countryside.
It bathes the bedrooms.
So there are dances in the clearings.
Moon is filled with its regular oil.
+ a weekly clean-out.
To get a silver fire.
An intense grey fire.
Each apprentice takes to his tomb
a quarter moon.
Sphere’s brilliance fades bit by bit.
Ancient black returns.
Use of lanterns, too,
after the shock of night.
Night sheet is the costume of the country.
Moon is underground.
Does it light up a hell?
Cause rejoicing in the land of nothingness?
And hiding for long bodies?
Is there a light under the earth?
No.
A grey starts Intense Melancholy
in the body of oblivion.
Sun is far.
Grey has its feasts of melancholy
whose noise
reaches the sky.
Underground life is of the intense earth.
Jungle where branches cut
exhilarating strips of light.
Grey strips have a coldness
that opens the eyes.
They throw
life over it.
Bodies are upright.
Earth calm sometimes dominant.
Melancholy is extended.
Moon must hold the earth from above.
They attach it to the sky.
It lights the distant water.
Melancholy is preferred up above.
So it comes down.

after ‘The Moon’

MAAN

In het land van Altijddurende Nacht
is hemel een zwart laken
en wereld een bed.
Of bed is een wereld.
Zwart laken ligt er overheen.
Dagslaap
plus lichtlinnen.
Maan is veraf.
Sterren zijn veraf.
Duisterheid rijmt met Oudheid.
En zwart stof.
Plus wit ornament.
Vandaar de zwakke gloed.
Leerlingen veranderen van land.
Ze gaan naar het land waar zon
verschijnt en verdwijnt.
Horizon is de verdieping.
Lift brengt zon
tot daar.
Zon steekt de hoogvlakte aan.
Horizon is een hoogvlakte
waar meer bepaald hoeveelheden
inkt opstijgen.
In het land van de aloude dag
hangt de nacht van een boom af.
De boom Stevig.
Eik is bron van licht
in het donker.
Bron is een bol in de boom.
Ze straalt als rondboog.
Is Maan een zilveren zon
in de boom Wereld?
Ze is zilvergrijs.
Ze verbaast de leerlingen.
Een witte droom.
Aan de Eik gehangen voor drie daalders?
Licht uitgevonden
in een nachtland?
Is er een volle tank steenolie
in?
Ronde lamp is helder.
Wie is Lampenist
of Lichtverantwoordelijke?
Een leerling gooit een zwart laken
over de maan.
Ze brengen Maan mee
naar het land van de officiële nacht.
Er is een eik in zwart land.
Sap is wit bloed.
Nieuwe lamp brengt nieuwe
blijheid mee.
Ze verzilvert de sombere velden.
Ze baadt de kamertjes en hokjes.
Vandaar de rondedansen op de weiden.
Maan krijgt geregeld een volle tank olie.
+ wekelijkse schoonmaakbeurt.
Voor een zilverwit vuur.
Een intens grijs vuur.
Elke leerling neemt in het graf
een kwart van de maan mee.
Glans van de bol neemt langzaam aan af.
Aloud zwart komt terug.
Gebruik van lantarens ook,
na de nachtelijke botsing.
Nachtlaken is kleed van het land.
Maan is onder de aarde.
Verlicht ze een onderwereld?
Veroorzaakt ze blijheid in het land van niets?
En de clandestiniteit van lange lichamen?
Is er een licht onder de aarde?
Nee.
Een grijs brengt de Intense Melancholie op gang
in de lichamen van vergetelheid.
Zon is veraf.
Het grijs heeft zijn melancholische feesten
waarvan het lawaai
de hemel bereikt.
Onderaards leven is intense aarde.
Jungle waar de takken
banen van aangrijpend licht trekken.
Grijze banen hebben een oog
openende kilte.
Ze brengen het leven
beneden op gang.
Lichamen staan rechtop.
Rust van aarde overheerst soms.
Melancholie is gespannen.
Maan moet de bovenwereld aanspannen.
Men hangt haar aan de hemel.
Ze verlicht water in de verte.
Melancholie is bij voorkeur boven.
Dan daalt ze.

naar ‘De maan’

LUNE

Au pays de Nuit Constante,
ciel est un drap noir
et monde un lit.
Ou lit est un monde.
Drap noir est tiré par-dessus.
Sommeil de jour
plus linge de lumière.
Lune est loin.
Étoiles sont loin.
Obscurité rime avec Antiquité.
Et poussière noire.
Plus ornement blanc.
D’où l’incendie pâle.
Des apprentis changent de pays.
Ils vont au pays où soleil
apparaît et disparaît.
Horizon est l’étage.
Ascenseur porte soleil
jusqu’à lui.
Soleil allume le plateau.
Horizon est un plateau
où montent des volumes
d’encre notamment.
Au pays de jour antique,
la nuit dépend d’un arbre.
L’arbre Solide.
Chêne est source de lumière
dans le noir.
Source est une sphère dans l’arbre.
Elle brille comme courbe ronde.
Lune est un soleil d’argent
dans l’arbre Monde?
Elle a un gris d’argent.
Elle étonne les apprentis.
Un rêve blanc.
Fixée au Chêne pour trois écus?
Lumière inventée
dans un pays de nuit?
Il y a un plein d’huile de pierre
en elle?
Lampe ronde est claire.
Qui est Lampiste
ou Responsable de Lumière?
Un apprenti met un drap noir
sur la lune.
Ils emportent Lune
au pays de la nuit officielle.
Il y a un chêne au pays noir.
Sève est sang blanc.
Lampe nouvelle fait une liesse
nouvelle.
Elle argente la campagne sombre.
Et baigne les chambres.
D’où des rondes dans les clairières.
Lune a son plein d’huile régulier.
+ un nettoyage hebdomadaire.
Pour un feu argenté.
Un feu gris intense.
Chaque apprenti emporte dans la tombe
un quart de lune.
Éclat de la sphère diminue peu à peu.
Noir antique revient.
L’usage des lanternes aussi,
après le choc nocturne.
Drap nocturne est l’habit du pays.
Lune est sous la terre.
Elle éclaire un enfer?
Elle cause une liesse au pays de rien?
Et la clandestinité de corps longs?
Il y a une lumière sous la terre?
Non.
Un gris lance l’Intense Mélancolie
dans des corps d’oubli.
Soleil est loin.
Le gris a ses fêtes de mélancolie
dont le bruit
atteint le ciel.
Vie souterraine est de la terre intense.
Jungle où les branches coupent
bandes de lumière passionnantes.
Des bandes grises ont une froideur
qui ouvre des yeux.
Elles lancent
la vie dessous.
Des corps sont debout.
Calme de terre domine parfois.
Mélancolie est tendue.
Lune doit tendre la terre d’en haut.
On l’attache au ciel.
Elle éclaire au loin de l’eau.
Mélancolie est préférée en haut.
Alors, elle descend.

d’après ‘La Lune’
Close

MOON

In the country of Constant Night
sky is a black sheet
and world a bed.
Or bed is a world.
Black sheet laid over it.
Day slumber
with linen of light.
Moon is far.
Stars are far.
Darkness rhymes with Pastness.
And black dust.
With white ornament.
The pale fire comes from there.
Apprentices change countries.
They go to the country where sun
appears and disappears.
Horizon is the shelf.
Lift brings sun
up to it.
Sun lights up the plateau.
Horizon is a plateau
where volumes go up
of ink especially.
In the land of ancient day,
night hangs from a tree.
The Solid tree.
Oak is source of light
in the dark.
Spring is a sphere in the tree.
It shines like a rounded curve.
Is Moon a silver sun
in the tree World?
It is silver-grey.
Astonishes the ‘prentices.
A white dream.
Fixed to the Oak for three ha’pennies?
Light invented
in a country of night?
There’s a full jar of oil
within it?
Round Lamp is bright.
Who is Lamplighter
or Responsible for Light?
An apprentice puts a black sheet
over the moon.
They carry moon off
to the land of official night.
There’s an oak-tree in the black country.
Sap is white blood.
New Light gives a new
cheeriness.
It silvers the gloomy countryside.
It bathes the bedrooms.
So there are dances in the clearings.
Moon is filled with its regular oil.
+ a weekly clean-out.
To get a silver fire.
An intense grey fire.
Each apprentice takes to his tomb
a quarter moon.
Sphere’s brilliance fades bit by bit.
Ancient black returns.
Use of lanterns, too,
after the shock of night.
Night sheet is the costume of the country.
Moon is underground.
Does it light up a hell?
Cause rejoicing in the land of nothingness?
And hiding for long bodies?
Is there a light under the earth?
No.
A grey starts Intense Melancholy
in the body of oblivion.
Sun is far.
Grey has its feasts of melancholy
whose noise
reaches the sky.
Underground life is of the intense earth.
Jungle where branches cut
exhilarating strips of light.
Grey strips have a coldness
that opens the eyes.
They throw
life over it.
Bodies are upright.
Earth calm sometimes dominant.
Melancholy is extended.
Moon must hold the earth from above.
They attach it to the sky.
It lights the distant water.
Melancholy is preferred up above.
So it comes down.

after ‘The Moon’

MOON

In the country of Constant Night
sky is a black sheet
and world a bed.
Or bed is a world.
Black sheet laid over it.
Day slumber
with linen of light.
Moon is far.
Stars are far.
Darkness rhymes with Pastness.
And black dust.
With white ornament.
The pale fire comes from there.
Apprentices change countries.
They go to the country where sun
appears and disappears.
Horizon is the shelf.
Lift brings sun
up to it.
Sun lights up the plateau.
Horizon is a plateau
where volumes go up
of ink especially.
In the land of ancient day,
night hangs from a tree.
The Solid tree.
Oak is source of light
in the dark.
Spring is a sphere in the tree.
It shines like a rounded curve.
Is Moon a silver sun
in the tree World?
It is silver-grey.
Astonishes the ‘prentices.
A white dream.
Fixed to the Oak for three ha’pennies?
Light invented
in a country of night?
There’s a full jar of oil
within it?
Round Lamp is bright.
Who is Lamplighter
or Responsible for Light?
An apprentice puts a black sheet
over the moon.
They carry moon off
to the land of official night.
There’s an oak-tree in the black country.
Sap is white blood.
New Light gives a new
cheeriness.
It silvers the gloomy countryside.
It bathes the bedrooms.
So there are dances in the clearings.
Moon is filled with its regular oil.
+ a weekly clean-out.
To get a silver fire.
An intense grey fire.
Each apprentice takes to his tomb
a quarter moon.
Sphere’s brilliance fades bit by bit.
Ancient black returns.
Use of lanterns, too,
after the shock of night.
Night sheet is the costume of the country.
Moon is underground.
Does it light up a hell?
Cause rejoicing in the land of nothingness?
And hiding for long bodies?
Is there a light under the earth?
No.
A grey starts Intense Melancholy
in the body of oblivion.
Sun is far.
Grey has its feasts of melancholy
whose noise
reaches the sky.
Underground life is of the intense earth.
Jungle where branches cut
exhilarating strips of light.
Grey strips have a coldness
that opens the eyes.
They throw
life over it.
Bodies are upright.
Earth calm sometimes dominant.
Melancholy is extended.
Moon must hold the earth from above.
They attach it to the sky.
It lights the distant water.
Melancholy is preferred up above.
So it comes down.

after ‘The Moon’
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère