Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Anna Enquist

SONG

You write your lines in disguise, rushing
around town with an impervious mask
of industry, a second existence

with a shawl that goes well with your coat.
You’re ten years behind, surreptitiously stopped
when she fell. Everything races on.

You claw for that life in vain, keen
to surrender. You search, but the word
leaves you cold; the image, indifferent.

Then you hear her song, briefly, air
escapes your throat, you fall in a heap.
Salvation comes through the ear.

LIEDJE

LIEDJE

Je schrijft in vermomming je regels,
draaft door de stad met een masker
van vlijt voor je kop, een tweede bestaan

met een sjaal die goed past bij je jas.
Je loopt tien jaar achter, stond stiekem
stil toen zij viel. Alles raast door.

Je klauwt vergeefs naar dat leven, graag
geef je op. Je zoekt, maar het woord
doet je weinig, het beeld laat je koud.

Dan hoor je haar lied, even maar, lucht
breekt uit je keel, je zakt in elkaar.
De verlossing komt door het oor.
Close

SONG

You write your lines in disguise, rushing
around town with an impervious mask
of industry, a second existence

with a shawl that goes well with your coat.
You’re ten years behind, surreptitiously stopped
when she fell. Everything races on.

You claw for that life in vain, keen
to surrender. You search, but the word
leaves you cold; the image, indifferent.

Then you hear her song, briefly, air
escapes your throat, you fall in a heap.
Salvation comes through the ear.

SONG

You write your lines in disguise, rushing
around town with an impervious mask
of industry, a second existence

with a shawl that goes well with your coat.
You’re ten years behind, surreptitiously stopped
when she fell. Everything races on.

You claw for that life in vain, keen
to surrender. You search, but the word
leaves you cold; the image, indifferent.

Then you hear her song, briefly, air
escapes your throat, you fall in a heap.
Salvation comes through the ear.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
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Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
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