Poem by the Dutch writer Rogi Wieg

NO REVOLVER

For Bert Schierbeek

It’s raining, the last of the flowers are

letting go, but people are blooming.

Hölderlin briefly reads clearly

then clouds over: curtains are shut

during the daytime. Doors close

without a keyhole. It’s raining hard.

And yet: humans believe that the world is

getting better, women draw a lipstick

and no revolver. Women bathe children,

but the sky turns their water black.

And yet: time unreels to give people

extra time and now Hölderlin will chuckle a bit

about the last pears. Although he’s mistaken:

it is his madness dancing to ashes’ tune.

It’s raining, the last flowers are

strewing children on the old earth.

And Hölderlin pores over his poem,

scratches some words, drinks and prays.