==========

 

(song)

 

Six years old

 

Six years old

And all ready forgotten

They took away your teddy bears

From the spot

Where you were run over

At the corner, a that lamp post

 

Six years old

But a small boy

I still hear the sliding of your bike

Six years old

Your life just started

Six years old and that will be all

 

Six years old

Six years to cherish

Six years old: an existence far too short

And your parents

Who built dreams around you

I see them standing in your empty room

 

Six years old

And run over just like that

The bus driver did not see you go

Six years old

And dying just like that

And soon no one remembers your name

 

Six years old

I cannot forget you

Although they took away your teddy bears

From the spot where you were run over

At the corner, at that lamp post

 

Six years old

I cannot forget you

I see your face in every playing child

You are gone

But living here inside me

There you will live as long as I sing

There you will live as long as I sing

 

==========

 

It is rainbowy day

With raking light over the flat green land

Where yellow willows wave and swans

Stand in the wind like crumpled napkins

 

Where dark clouds stroke houses

Below bright blue sky

And dirty sheep are feeding

The black-necked Canadian geese

Are standing in the mud

And pink flowering trees are yelling:

Spring is coming!

 

But my heart is still heavy

And is not warmed by the early sun

I think of those who stayed behind in winter

Like slow shadows, forever dumb

 

==========

 

It is the time that old trees fall

 

The golden alder fell in a winter storm

Its top went rushing through the air

The withered roots torn loose

From the soil, so long its anchor point

 

Creaking, cracking by its base

Slowly leaning over or quickly crashing

I do not know

I was not there

 

I do know that I miss its shadow

Its wise rustling in a summer breeze

And the memories in its branches

The promises in its early buds

 

After giving life to its own trunk

Now its dead wood bursts into red flame

And in the crackling of the blazing fire

You can still hear our voices in the evening hour

 

==========

 

(song)

 

Mother and child

 

About a half century ago

I was very small then

I was not born yet

And I liked that very much

One time a submarine

Another time a fish

I was very happy

In the dark

 

I did not want to come out

Because outside it was scary and cold

But after nine months

It became a little tight

Then my mother whispered

I will protect you where I can

And you also have a father

Who is a strong man

 

Then I just came

My mother looked at me

I gave her my first smile

And she gave me my name

With my very first step

I held my mother’s hand

And in the long summers

We sought shells in the sand

 

When I graduated

She was so happy and proud

When I lost my first love

She comforted me

We shared so much together

And the time flew by

And before we knew it

I was big and she was small

 

Now, after all those years

She does not remember my name

It will not take long

Before she will forget me completely

No, there is no way back

How difficult that may be

But you, you will be my mother

And I, I will be your child

 

==========

 

Mother II

 

With my hand at the stroller

Walking beside you

Under the blooming cherry trees

You gave the world its names

Look: a chestnut,

A rose, a sycamore

You filled my head with words

To grasp the world,

To disclose, to experience

 

Small child

Step by step

Exploring, led by your hand

The world became reality

Through your words

Cherished necessity

 

Later I found

My own language

But still

With your accent

 

==========

 

With father and mother

 

Here we sit together

In this familiar space

Landing softly

On a bed of memories

In the safe shelter of this house

Where it seems

That everything will go on

Eternally

Untouched by time

 

And still memories

Float

Like slow autumn leaves

Swaying to the ground

Muffle our movements

In this security

Giving us solidity

Giving us anchors

In our existence

 

==========

 

(song)

 

Live, live, live!

 

You say: I have to tell you something

This life is pointless to me

This life is hell for me

I cannot see the future anymore

 

I cannot walk, I cannot hear

My world has become far too small

All my freedom is gone

I do not want to be here any more

 

(but I say)

 

(refrain)

 

I am your hands

I am your eyes

Live, live, live!

 

I am your hands

I am your eyes

Live, live, live!

 

I am your feet

I am your ears

Live, live, live!

 

I am your hands

I am your eyes

 

I will let you look through my windows

I will let you dream in my bed

I will let you live in my life

I will let you dance on my road

 

I will give you golden sunrays

The purple clouds of the night

I will give you my hours and my days

I cannot wait to see you laugh

I cannot wait to see you laugh

 

(refrain)

 

I am your hands

I am your eyes

Live, live, live!

 

I am your hands

I am your eyes

Live, live, live!

 

I am your feet

I am your ears

Live, live, live!

 

I am your hands

I am your eyes

 

==========

 

Small wren on your branch

With white-rimmed beak yelling

Dark down between your feathers

In a multitude of brown lines

 

Hidden between the branches squeaking

For life bringing food

But doing so, oh contradiction

Also an easy prey

 

Will you be king of the winter

Your sparkling songs in the cold?

Or will you unseen fill

The stomach of a magpie or a cat?

 

Small feathery ball

Be safe in my hand

 

===========

 

We do not need anything

 

We are sitting in the silence of the trees

In the silence of the night air

In the opal night air

Where the small bat flies

Black and spiky

 

Between black lace silhouettes

Which mirror in the water

Where the great tit took a bath

And finch and chiff-chaff came to drink

The horizon the airiest yellow

 

And the silence pervades everything

In the space so softly blue

Even our talking and our being

The first star ascends

Above the shed

 

In the silence trees come

Softly, silently close by

Reaching out with airy twigs

To eternity

 

We do not need anything

 

 

Copyright Villa Het Zwarte Paard 2019