Monday 1 February 2021

Rural autumn by Hans Warren

 

Hans Warren
20 oktober 1921 - 19 december 2001
[photo Internet]

Rural autumn

Who hasn't, like us, in the darkest Europe
of this century, when it seemed there wasn't
a way out anymore, been young,
and loved somebody, will never grasp

how we clung onto a little happiness,
a sonnet, a trace of luxury,
some grapes in a crystal bowl, that cracked
when bombers passed over.

We knew for sure, we had witnessed
death daily in many forms.
Whether we would ever have a future
looked, given our situation, more and more uncertain.

That is why autumn was possibly the most heart-rending:
everything was dying and we hadn't even lived yet.


Original title: 'Landelijke herfst' -from the collection 'Poëzie is en daad van bevestiging' - Noord- en Zuidnederlandse poëzie van 1945 tot heden - gebundeld en ingeleid door C. Buddingh' en Eddy van Vliet - 1984 - Uitgeverij Manteau Amsterdam


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