Wednesday 24 April 2019

Ed Leeflang: 'IJsvogel'


IJSVOGEL

Een zondagmorgen, altijd ruist de beek;
wij liepen door de wei, geen van ons keek
erg uit zijn ogen. Daar kwam van rechts
oranje blanje bleu hij uit een duister
groen gevlogen. God wat een schrik.
Wat je in liefde voelen wil, de jubel
van het ogenblik. Hijzelf schoot weg
stroomafwaarts onder elzetakken
over de kleine brug. Schot in de dag.
Hé, ach, oh, denk hem terug.


KINGFISHER

A Sunday morning, the stream purling as always;
we walked through the meadow, our gazes
wandering. When from stage right –
orange-white-blue and out of green darkness –
he flashed into view. God what a shock.
What you wish for from love – the jubilant rush
of the moment. As for him, he shot off
downstream under branches of alder
over the small bridge. Shot a day’s eye.
Hey, aah, ooh, re-call him.


1 comment:

John Irons said...

Oranje-blanje-bleu "Prinsevlag"

In 1572 the orange-white-blue flag was first mentioned when the town of Den Briel was liberated. The red-white-blue flag was first mentioned in 1596. Around 1630 more flags with a red stripe were used, and after 1660 the version with the orange stripe became very rare. It's still unknown why the orange stripe was changed to red, but there are two main theories:
a new method of producing orange paint resulted in a darker shade, almost red.
the House of Orange became less popular.
The colours were however never laid down officially, so in the 1930s the question of red versus orange was raised again, especially by the national socialist NSB party, who used the orange version. On 19 February 1937 Queen Wilhelmina decided by Order in council that: "The colours of the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are red, white and blue." In 1958 the colours were defined more precisely as bright vermilion and cobalt blue.
Mark Sensen, 26 February 1998