Monday 13 August 2012

Favourite swallow poem by the Dutch writer Willem Jan Otten



Begin November

De zwaluwen zijn er lang van tussen
Toch woei vandaag de dwarrelende wind
die zwaluwen herinnert aan hun Nijl,
de wrede warme zomerrest die zegt
ziel is dat wat kwetterende lussen
trekt in een al lang verlaten lucht.


Early November

The swallows have flitted a long time since.
Today, though, eddies swirled of such a wind
as makes the swallows recollect their Nile,
a vestige, hot and cruel, of summer saying
soul is what twirls and swoops in twittering
loops against a long-deserted sky.


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