Kaartspel

Leeg, geleegd
geleefd, beleefd
zwaar, bezwaard
steen, versteend

Een scherp zwaard
hartendame in de slag
wat de stilte vermag
geslagen mijn kaart

Kaart kiezen
'n streep op de lei
Maar verliezen
doen we allebei

Been living here

Been living here
twenty-six years and some
Between those four walls
lies my life's history
a sun going down, a moon rising
the dust never settled
the rest never left

There are my books
a strange fascinating arrangement
pictures on the wall,
got some decoration on the wall
Bleu azur and bright blue
lighten up the cues

Been living here
twenty-six years and some
beds came and crashed
posters tore off or went on
and the window sight
in an ever changing scene
a tree recently knocked down,
pale orange the lone
street lantern light

This was my room and so will be
my stories from hitherto gone on
I'll collect my memories,
a birthday crown, my fluffy penguin
in a box they'll promptly disappear
The cramped up cupboard sights in relief
as the end of the year draws near

A new chapter, new four walls
will surround my private story
but never will the humble memory and glory
disappear at all
My tiny room empties but never falls

Natuur en Ik

Op een klif, in het schaarse gras
de rotsen blinkend als van glas
een horizon verruimt wat ooit was
de golven dollen in het getij
sierlijke duiken, vrij
-Ik -

Op de rand, uren en uren
over de wulpse vlakken turen
mijn hart breekt uit de muren
negen zeehonden losbandig en frank
stenen rigide in saluut en rank
-Ik -

Boven het geruis, in de wind
hoor ik het uitroepen van menig kind
dat plots dit schouwspel vindt
en wijl het water terug vloedt
een dalende namiddaggloed
-Ik -

Een dame wenkt mij, zo gekend en onbekend
Overal en nergens waar zij zich wendt
In mij en rondom mij, zee en land
rond het Ik, voor haar gestrand

Novemberavond impressie

Twee bij twee fladderen ze voorbij
de spreeuwen in het roze en pastelblauw
Nacht sluiert het verre bos in tinten grauw
De regen stopte eventjes, modderige brij

Violet kleuren de wolken, ze drijven voorbij
loom zweven ze de spreeuwen achterna
Duivenkoren in de grote tuinboom wijzen de dag na
Oranje straatlampen lichten, rij aan rij

Weer een dag vervlogen, vliegende tijd
maar frisse en rode wangen, een gemoed verblijd

I dreamt

When a child, I dreamt to discover
New lands to be seen
New countries to be explored
but now it's the urban jungle
and the unknown streets
I have to face, not the jaguars
and not the spiders to be afraid of
but traffic lights and rush hours

As a child I dreamt four wheel drive
I dreamt in mud and earth
air of dust and fire of sand
water of creeks and rocks
I dreamt colourful places
ample to be painted
but now it's my current life
I have to explore, women around
expectations instead of unknown nations
But never left the dream
I dreamt as a child

Vrolijke meisjes op straat

Het is zo klaar aan de horizon
op de velden een bedrijvigheid
Niet iets dat ik verzon
Een maand van appels en oogstijd
en vrolijke meisjes op straat
met hun echoëende nazomerpraat

Het is zo klaar in de verre verte
de velden strekken en wiegen
licht licht een lichte begeerte
Ver van kranten, woorden en bedriegen
en vrolijke meisjes op straat
op hun volborstig plezier geen maat

Het is zo klaar deze namiddag
de bomen ritselen teder en zacht
in mijn tot rust gekomen gedacht
In de klare verte klinkt gelach
en vrolijke meisjes op straat
Vol dromen kijk ik ze na...

Barren lands

It's a time to hunker down
but still the roving heart goes out
this weather as the day I was born in
the cold rain to line the street's din

It's a time to enjoy warmth
but still the hunting heart alarms
those trees as the morning I greeted first
while crying of fatigue and thirst

Hear the wind rustle up the leaves
stalking the houses like thieves
In my seat, linked through the sands
Time flees through my hands,
sowing my memories upon barren lands

The rain's deluge brings refuge
My heart moves once again in its groove
and while this worn seat withstands the clock
My heart boards a lone ship at the dock
and while the sea greets the man
he views upon his barren lands

Barren lands of love and friendship
barren lands of heartbreak and hardship

It's a time to hunker down
to remember a soft frown
to read and think of her soulful eyes
every once again in a while

As it rains, I'm one of the islands
commandeering my barren lands ...

Cloudmaker

I am a cloudmaker
bringing up the vapour
up to where it belongs
got some different colour,
name your song
I've got mauve, beige, blue and gray
orange and pink, if you wish for more play
it's real, enticing,
let me show you the pricing

I am a cloudmaker
drifting on the vapour
painting flurries in the skies
and if it pleases your eyes
let me show you the sample card
it's a whole range of art

I am a cloudmaker
at your service
to meet your wishes
in my giant machinery
of wondrous steaming refinery
selling vapour

Schommel

Schommel
wiegt zachtjes
en blikt terug
op voorbije charmante lachjes
Vervlogen

Waterkant impressie

Kabbelend brabbelend 't water
Babbelend in zijn geklater
Roerend toerend rond
Ruisend al te bond

Razend rond rotsen ruig rood
Ritselend riet dat weerwerk bood
Roetsjbaan ruim rivalerend
rijkelijk romige rozengeur infiltrerend
Rust suist zacht
spreidend stilte zoet
zoemend zomerse nacht

De lofzang door
een melodieus krekelkoor
krakend en kriekend en krekelend
Zijden zoom van es fezelend
Daar langs die vruchtbare waterkant
Waar geluk nog geen ijdel uitspreken zijn kan

July

A lone street,
a grass field
designs of cray
leaving in the spray
the rain drops
July has gone

Former youthful ideas
now distant memories
All we were those days
Children at play

A wooden slide
it had seen the years
chirping house martins
and a craving for
some icecream, mama
July and school was
A future
far, far ahead

Former youthful games
now time seems tame
All we were those days
Children at play

The sun beat the roof
Mama, it was hot outside
the rubber pool and
the green watering can
the neightbouring kids
asked me to join the play
A lone street;
July

Just a game today

Whistling through the air
surfing on well known songs
After all, life's just a refrain
no time to restrain

A hunting heart in its lair
on the prowl years ago, far too long
Stop, rewind, stop and play
life's just a game today

Now it's settled once again
The chained and walled heart in its den
Now it's just a game of memory
life's just another old story

So keep on, get it on
the stereo pushes on
Stop, rewind, stop and play
life's just a game today

A hermit

I'm a hermit at a wild raging sea
a forlorn war zone only I can see
Hidden thoughts on lee
My toes kick the stones and the pebbles
lessening a pain that thrives and never ebbs
As the sound recalls scenes past,
downwards the beach I hurried fast
to find a prevailing wind and try, fly
like the petrels on the move to the sky

I'm a hermit at a wild lonely desert
only the baking writhing sands
as a reminder that rightly serves
as the petrel cautiously lands
on the rocks that lend a hand
to those that wander and rant

I'm the hermit one rarely sees
ragged I ain't nor do I have wise words
it's just plain old me in a foreign world
ever attempting for the pugnacious breaking free

Dreams of yonder

Well ...
I've been dreaming
of a bird
A blue day to come along
I've been dreaming candlelights
ice cream vans and dreams of yonder

Well ...
Uncover my eyes
Open the curtains that
I've been staring at
for a time too long to tell
Open the curtains
I want to see my stage
a garden in the rain

Well ...
I've seen things lost,
fields and dogs
forests and dwelling days
but I've seen my garden in the rain

Well ...
It's all cliches and souvenirs
I've been saving memories
I've been catching candlelights
And I'll have a feeling
to keep on reeling in
clocks that tick away
the precious few

I'll have my dreams diluting
my dreams of yonder ...

Groen treuren de bomen

Dromen, opspattend water
breekpunt, verrader
een brullende pijn op ijzer
Te traag wijzer ...

Gieren in de waterval
Gevederd komt voor de val
Beklemming, onverlost;
het lot is aan de bal

Streepjes tellen op de einder
verloren iets fijnder
en afgestreept de dromen
groen treuren de bomen.

Loathing time

I come from a long-traveled road
nowhere to go, and just feeling fine
I picked up a girl, cosy under one coat
we're staring at the skies, loathing time
and while the moon beams of memories,
the gentle river reminds us of some instabilities
A life changes, a routine rearranges

I come from a long-traveled road
no destination to follow, feeling glad
I could hop around like a welfaring toad,
eyes on a balcony of a neightbouring flat
just watching the flower bloom

I come from a long-traveled road
nowhere to go, and just feeling fine
I picked up a girl, cosy under one coat
we're staring at the skies, loathing time ...

Natural sadness

Waving seas of windy green
Far beyond civilization
a true nature's exhibition
and fragile to be seen
a raging fire waiting for the rain
on the great plain

In roots lies culture
in the ground of nature
Earth, a gentle nurse
and humanity built upon a curse

Truth let beyond bucks and grease
and with incredible ease
raped richness of the seas
spilled among our fingers and hands
doomed to be bare our children's lands

Below a moon smiling with a forced grin
Staring to fishes in death pinned
Gazing to elephants in their prime broken
and the hunters, behind a lion, finally taken
Shimmering shades in the rain forests
in front of our eyes an ultimate test

History of the past fifty years to be forgotten
Traditions to be mended, healed
a wrong route to turn in a strong wind
Tears along beaches oil tinted
Frozen sadness along blood covered seals
Their corpses, on the ice, slowly rotten
Mentality of the past fifty years to be forgotten

An honest and beautiful earth endangered
and a humanity to be rearranged

Cloud of sound

On a cloud of sound
I'm wandering around
Can't feel solid soil
liquid I am between words
and language of places
well known to me once

On a cloud of sound
I'm looking around
to a life that was never mine
Never felt that fine
below the rays of eternal sunshine
Got to hold my own line
in the empty air
Floating with lethal flair

On a cloud of sound
I view upon grounds
strange lines upon my eye
of what was once used to me
Now I am lonely free
Sociability nor contact can I
link to this state of grief
on this cloud of sound

I post this one, even though it's quite personal, for all those out there who have to go through their days with a damaged hearing. It's not always easy in (new) groups and chance encounters but we can do it nonetheless. Now, seven years later, I find I can handle it much easier than I could before but it gave me some whippings while growing up. This is a reminder of those hard times. I sometimes read it again once in a while to remind me of this struggle I keep on winning. I hope I can convey that same sentiment to others out there. It's always nice to remember you're not the only one.

Old boy's dream

It's an old boy's dream, freed from the seams
harking back to days of joyful play
on the floor the stories unfolded
wheels and future could-be's revolved

It's an old boy's dream, a sporting machine
quite some rust, quite some tear and wear
flaking dust, been on the roads god knows where
but now it resides in my own juvenile eyes

Boys will be boys, my mother did sight
My father just told me to do what I'd like
and now my sister declares me a branded fool
for this piece of misery, it's just a tool

But it's an old boy's dream, my own sporting machine ...

A sudden squall of rain

A sudden squall of rain
surprised the fields, green of spring
A smell of the rain on the dry earth
while my companion, all senses awake
walks with his muddy paws, next to me

A sudden squall of rain
surprised the climbing lark, its song a joyful ring
while the hares look for shelter in their berth
the forest shakes the drops upon our wake
while my companion leaps up happily, next to me