de zang der Sirenen is dodelijk
(the singing of Sirens is deadly)
 

dearest, listen, Vuurland* is cold
and Australians are walking upside-down
the sky bends down and the days deteriorate
we walk around with our heads in our hands
confused in a forest of concrete
words that don't understand themselves anymore
suffocate slowly in the streets
with sand and gravel in their mouths
the newspaper-boys bring the news:

“there is no gold at the end of the rainbow”
 
 

*(Vuurland = the island south of South-America.)
 
 

huis en haard,
met huid en haar

(home and hearth,
with skin and hair)**
 

in this time set still
she turns her back outwardly
over everything transparant
the color of bulletholes grey

she breaks the time
with the white of her gestures

in this time set still
she follows a spiral
between the calendar and her deeds
she chops and scoops
a spiral staircase
missing steps
 

**(These 2 phrases are 2 very different Dutch expressions, 
the first one (“home and hearth”) indicates a homey feeling
and the second one (“with skin and hair”) means totally, as 
in totally submerging oneself in something.)
 
 

I shall be free #10
 

tonight I won't leave you, darling
at most tomorrow
after my last dream next to you
because never
have I been able to stay somewhere longer

like a leaving butterfly
a further-traveling deserttraveller
I wander through the land
of a thousand dreams
my only hold are the words
a sole image remains
a souvenir

tonight I won't leave you yet
maybe tomorrow
I tell you dangerous stories
in this night
a glimpse of a dream

did you wish it was me?
it wasn't, never
 
 

read me, darling
 

read me, dear
my name is written down
on the corners of the stone
you couldn't cleave
in the lines of my hand
and in the grooves around my mouth
that I carved myself into
read me
in the eyes of my son
in the blood that flows through him
read me
between the lines
of the pages I turn
when the storm quiets down to rain
read me
in the obscurity of this town
in the mirrors that never lie
read me
in the caves of my body
before the night falls