Mother - A Poem - Holland Park Press

By Arnold Jansen op de Haar

To mark Gedichtendag we make Arnold Jansen op de Haar’s poem Mother available on our website, in Dutch, as well as in a brand new English Translation.

It is a loving tribute to a mother and it is published in the last chapter of Arnold’s most recent novel Engel which will be published in English under the title Angel later this year [ed note: you can buy Angel now].

Mother

eternal unkilling
of dying fathers

babbling aunties
wasting precious time

who now snaps his laces
their hibernation dissolving

sunday is out
she happily puts on her lipstick

thinking back when she was but young
being young when all still belonged

standing there forever frozen
phoning her child

Moeder

het eeuwig ontdoden
van stervende vaders

praatzieke tantes
verspillen kostbare tijd

wie breekt nog zijn veters
hun winterslaap dooiend

de zondag is buiten
ze lippenstift vrolijk

denkend aan toen ze nog jong was
jong waren toen alles nog was

staat daar voorgoed roerloos
te bellen met kind

© Arnold Jansen op de Haar

Mother – A Poem

Moeder – een gedicht

January 23, 2011

By Arnold Jansen op de Haar