Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Derek Otte

"On a bright night, I sat silently so."

On a bright night, I sat silently so. While I thought and developed reverse vertigo. A blanket of lights was all I could see. And something suddenly starstruck me. 

What’s my perspective actually worth? If my notion comes down to: all is explained through learned, unlearned; rarely found out. Assuming the truth, never a doubt. I watched and I seemed to just be. By myself insignificant, futile, tiny. Like a dot in space, from some point in time. I was nothing for a moment, I was lost for a while. 

I related to no one, everyone became I: what before was around I was living inside. Not solely in everything, the part and the whole, for a while I seemed to be all in one. The circle was closed; there was no line in all this. When I discovered… I did not exist. Throughout the cosmos, I was universal. I was all around as I was nowhere at all. 
I remembered, I forgot, I held and released. The trees, the forest, the waves, the sea. I returned, I stayed gone; both felt like being. And pain did not hurt. And beauty increased. Free of burden of proof and my own convictions: there I was, so small and so big all at once. I was free of sadness, free of commitment. And there was and there was and there was, there was nothing. 

So much more than some self, I was enough. For a while I was one with the heavens above. Not perception but perfection, joy without fight. Beyond perspective; no space and no time. Ahead like below; this existence – a wonder. In, around, with us, until we cross over. Cross through into everything, the stars still stood so. The deep up there, reverse vertigo. 

A meaning of life started to take shape. Until I saw that dot… become a comma again, 

"Op een heldere nacht, zat ik en zweeg."

Op een heldere nacht, zat ik en zweeg. Terwijl ik nadacht en omgekeerde hoogtevrees kreeg. Een deken van lichtpuntjes was al dat ik zag. Iets dat me sterrenstof tot nadenken gaf. 

Wat is mijn perspectief werkelijk waard? Als mijn notie neerkomt op: alles verklaard vanuit aangeleerd, afgeleerd; zelden achter gekomen. Menen te weten; voor waar aangenomen. Ik keek en ik leek er alleen maar te zijn. Op mezelf onbeduidend, nietszeggend en klein. Als een stip in de ruimte, vanaf een punt in de tijd. Ik was eventjes niets, ik was eventjes kwijt. 

Ik verhield zich tot niemand, iedereen werd ik: binnenin leefde wat eerst om ik heen. Niet alleen in het alles, onderdeel én geheel, ik leek eventjes alles in één. Er was geen lijn te bekennen; de cirkel was rond. Toen ik ontdekte… Dat ik niet bestond. Doorheen de kosmos, ik was heel, ik was al. Ik was helemaal nergens en daarmee overal. 
Ik onthield, ik vergat, ik hield vast en liet los. De golven, de zee, de bomen, het bos. Ik kwam terug, ik bleef weg; beide voelden als zijn. En het mooie werd meer. En het zeer deed geen pijn. Ik was vrij van bewijslast en eigen gelijk: ik was er zo klein en zo groot tegelijk. Ik was vrij van verplichting, vrij van verdriet. En er was en er was en er was, er was niets. 

Ik was genoeg, zo veel meer dan wat zelf. Eventjes één met het hemelgewelf. Geen perceptie maar perfectie, vreugde zonder strijd. Het perspectief voorbij; geen ruimte en geen tijd. Boven mij als onder mij, een wonder: dit bestaan. In ons, om ons, met ons, tot we overgaan. Overgaan in alles, de sterren stonden er nog steeds. De diepte daarboven, omgekeerde hoogtevrees. 

Er begon zich een zin van het leven te vormen. Tot ik die punt… Weer een komma zag worden,

Close

"On a bright night, I sat silently so."

On a bright night, I sat silently so. While I thought and developed reverse vertigo. A blanket of lights was all I could see. And something suddenly starstruck me. 

What’s my perspective actually worth? If my notion comes down to: all is explained through learned, unlearned; rarely found out. Assuming the truth, never a doubt. I watched and I seemed to just be. By myself insignificant, futile, tiny. Like a dot in space, from some point in time. I was nothing for a moment, I was lost for a while. 

I related to no one, everyone became I: what before was around I was living inside. Not solely in everything, the part and the whole, for a while I seemed to be all in one. The circle was closed; there was no line in all this. When I discovered… I did not exist. Throughout the cosmos, I was universal. I was all around as I was nowhere at all. 
I remembered, I forgot, I held and released. The trees, the forest, the waves, the sea. I returned, I stayed gone; both felt like being. And pain did not hurt. And beauty increased. Free of burden of proof and my own convictions: there I was, so small and so big all at once. I was free of sadness, free of commitment. And there was and there was and there was, there was nothing. 

So much more than some self, I was enough. For a while I was one with the heavens above. Not perception but perfection, joy without fight. Beyond perspective; no space and no time. Ahead like below; this existence – a wonder. In, around, with us, until we cross over. Cross through into everything, the stars still stood so. The deep up there, reverse vertigo. 

A meaning of life started to take shape. Until I saw that dot… become a comma again, 

"On a bright night, I sat silently so."

On a bright night, I sat silently so. While I thought and developed reverse vertigo. A blanket of lights was all I could see. And something suddenly starstruck me. 

What’s my perspective actually worth? If my notion comes down to: all is explained through learned, unlearned; rarely found out. Assuming the truth, never a doubt. I watched and I seemed to just be. By myself insignificant, futile, tiny. Like a dot in space, from some point in time. I was nothing for a moment, I was lost for a while. 

I related to no one, everyone became I: what before was around I was living inside. Not solely in everything, the part and the whole, for a while I seemed to be all in one. The circle was closed; there was no line in all this. When I discovered… I did not exist. Throughout the cosmos, I was universal. I was all around as I was nowhere at all. 
I remembered, I forgot, I held and released. The trees, the forest, the waves, the sea. I returned, I stayed gone; both felt like being. And pain did not hurt. And beauty increased. Free of burden of proof and my own convictions: there I was, so small and so big all at once. I was free of sadness, free of commitment. And there was and there was and there was, there was nothing. 

So much more than some self, I was enough. For a while I was one with the heavens above. Not perception but perfection, joy without fight. Beyond perspective; no space and no time. Ahead like below; this existence – a wonder. In, around, with us, until we cross over. Cross through into everything, the stars still stood so. The deep up there, reverse vertigo. 

A meaning of life started to take shape. Until I saw that dot… become a comma again, 

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