ON THE HIGH DIKE
On the high dike I stand
in the forsaken sea I gaze
at the eternal gull
the white crests of waves
on the booming of the wind
on the scudding of the clouds
sheep graze away the horizon
my eyes dance in confusion
wander wilder than the sheep
through the loathsome ooze of mud-flats
out towards the islands
with the rising tide of water
trudging through this sucking sludge
this sickening pus of slimy mud
the Romans summed it up alright:
this is no place for humans
the water swirls, the water rises
the tide now tugs my legs away
the islands I will never reach
no more the shore that lies behind me
on the booming of the wind
on the scudding of the clouds
sheep graze away the horizon
my eyes danced in confusion.
© Bart FM Droog, 1998
© translation
John Irons, 2000
original title: Op de hoge dijk, from Deze dagen,
Passage
Publishing Company, Groningen, 1998
This poem was especially translated for Droogs poetry
tour to Armenia, 2000.