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.