Orpheus on the Breton coast by Job Degenaar

Orpheus on the Breton coast On an idle afternoon, when my lyre was hanging on the willows, I ripped off tens of mussels, threw them alive in boiling local wine, destroyed a lobster with a tongs and speared snails out of their bunkers heroically my hands soaked afterwards in lemon juice That night I rowed on the sea and came into a gully that took me to the Styx Hades, with a soft heart, gave me another chance to fetch Eurydice - If only I had looked round - she was already almost above ground - at the nymph that passed me the first rays of the sun just caught Poseidon's sardonic look of triumph.

Job Degenaar [1952] photo Internet

Original title: Orpheus aan de Bretonse kust From: De tweede ronde - Zeenummer - Tijdschrift voor literatuur - Winter 1988, Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, Amsterdam