Poem by the Dutch writer Jan Eijkelboom

Engelenburgerkade

The sun shone down on Engelenburgerkade.

Clad in plus fours I rode there on my bike.

A backlight tinged with autumn

came over the Catrijnepoort

and cast the shadow of half-open shutters

onto the gable of an old warehouse.

And suddenly within myself lay stacked

a load of happiness that scarcely could be borne

yet was so light I wished to cycle on

through that gateway and across the water

into the world and never to return,

though my home’s here if anywhere,

as nowhere else would be my home.

And briefly all the pain was gone

of being young, of grappling hard with God,

with Calvin’s hold still on

my throttled throat.

That quiet sun, that instant in my head

when life was luminous soon passed.

Within the week all was interred, more dead

than living, in a sonnet firmly cast.