«»

Confession

CONFESSION

We sat under the bridge and drank
I felt how in the past I sank
Of an old forgotten glory
So I suffered to tell them my story.

Once I had a lover rare
With beautiful eyes and curly hair.
We were young and easy, running through the grass,
And mocked with playful tenderness the violence of the mass.
The days ran slowly
Sunlight carried them away
Oh, the light! And then his breast!
Oh, soul of my soul!
The sowing-time would always stay
In the high-lights and the warmth of May -
Immortal days had quieted the quest.

Our love grew swift and fast
My figs swelled with ripeness at last
And from his lap full of seeds
We gathered the roses and lilies and weeds.
Carrying homeward our cheerful joys
We passed, under a smile in God's voice,
Unharmed the jealousy of the Tyrant’s stroke.
Ah! When finally our sunflower awoke!
We fostered and kissed it and knew with the wise
In the heart of world's wilderness, changed into Eden,
We had come to the jewel of Paradise.

The last night that he lived
Our boat in the lake had gone floating adrift.
We grasped desperately and clung to our row.
But he slipped. An echo from a vacant shore rung
Traces of songs we together had sung.
The world with the touch of an icy hand shivered
Then he melted away into a far land and quivered
Like a cloud that formed itself and went.
So he left me but I could not weep
I lay petrified on the verge of the deep.

We sat under the bridge and were drunk
I felt how in the past I had sunk
Of an old forgotten glory
So I suffered in telling my story.

5 mei 1990
Uit: The Secret Garden