Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Peter Verhelst

Vase

Can you blame a vase for its fragility
or a hand for breaking the vase?
Maybe it is meant for this;
for the vase to sing down upon the hand,
until the hand can no longer resist,
even though the hand knows it will hit
and the shards already singing in the vase
before they were made.

Why would the hand long for a vase,
which like a neck, extends towards the hand
that is about to hit it? And why does the vase
want to sing its shards to the surface
until the hand is unable to resist?

Maybe the vase is dreaming of the hand,
turning it into a rose, and the hand seeks out the vase
to finally find the shard
with which he can beat roses from the wrist.

Vaas

Vaas

Kun je een vaas haar breekbaarheid verwijten
of een hand het breken van de vaas?
Misschien is het zo bedoeld
dat de vaas de hand op zich af zingt,
zodat de hand niet kan weerstaan,
hoewel de hand weet dat hij slaat
en in de vaas al scherven zingen
voor ze zijn ontstaan. 

Waarom zou de hand verlangen naar een vaas
die, als een hals, zich uitstrekt naar de hand
die haar wil slaan? En waarom wil de vaas
haar scherven naar de oppervlakte zingen
zodat de hand haar niet langer kan weerstaan? 

Misschien droomt de vaas wel van de hand
een roos te maken, wil de hand op zoek gaan naar de vaas
om eindelijk de scherf te vinden
waarmee hij rozen uit zijn eigen pols kan slaan.
Close

Vase

Can you blame a vase for its fragility
or a hand for breaking the vase?
Maybe it is meant for this;
for the vase to sing down upon the hand,
until the hand can no longer resist,
even though the hand knows it will hit
and the shards already singing in the vase
before they were made.

Why would the hand long for a vase,
which like a neck, extends towards the hand
that is about to hit it? And why does the vase
want to sing its shards to the surface
until the hand is unable to resist?

Maybe the vase is dreaming of the hand,
turning it into a rose, and the hand seeks out the vase
to finally find the shard
with which he can beat roses from the wrist.

Vase

Can you blame a vase for its fragility
or a hand for breaking the vase?
Maybe it is meant for this;
for the vase to sing down upon the hand,
until the hand can no longer resist,
even though the hand knows it will hit
and the shards already singing in the vase
before they were made.

Why would the hand long for a vase,
which like a neck, extends towards the hand
that is about to hit it? And why does the vase
want to sing its shards to the surface
until the hand is unable to resist?

Maybe the vase is dreaming of the hand,
turning it into a rose, and the hand seeks out the vase
to finally find the shard
with which he can beat roses from the wrist.
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Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
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