Poem by the Dutch writer René Huigen

The Zeppelin or Rosendahl bend

Totally uninterested

in the extremities that it combines,

in bridges that it builds and roundabout

gestures, the beauty

of an ideal knot can be seen

from the ease with which it can

be tied and also be undone,

despite the enormous force of the pull

exerted on it – at which it displays

a detached involvement

It is strong and reliable, shockproof,

and perfectly symmetrical, as subtle as the pattern

depicted on the back of a butterfly

Powerful enough to lift climbers

onto mountain summits

A unique ornament round the neck

of everyone hanged

man or woman, guilty

or innocent – it knows itself in everything

To be an example simply demonstrated

even to children

Whether involving patent leathers

with loose laces that trip you up

Or something as fleeting

as a dream, filled with helium,

a sloop at its mooring, ready

to embark

No sky ever reaches high enough

to need to fall still deeper,

But maintains precisely motionless, fixedly the midpoint

so as to offer what by nature wants to drift

something to hold on to