Saturday 31 October 2015

Allotments along the railroad by Jan Eijkelboom


Allotments along the railroad

Everywhere along the track
little gardens like playing cards.

Strange, that I in spring
when they are turned over and raked
while the beanpoles are waiting
against the privy-sized shed
constructed from four old doors
of which one opens-

should think of the dying chrysanthemums,
the withered leaves, the poles
piled up along the edge,
when in the area far and wide, beyond
the narrow ditch, big bonfires
of leaves and stumps burn
and smoke remains itself in a mist
which yet does not prevent the sun
from plating a far-off greenhouse with silver
and closer by staining the reed-

strange, that I then did not think
of how loose and raked
this repeating private domain
would be again soon.

Jan Eijkelboom 1926 - 2008
[photographer unknown]

Original title: Volkstuintjes langs de spoorbaan From: 'De wimpers van de dageraad' - Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam - 1987

No comments:

Post a Comment