Thursday, 28 November 2019

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer: 'Sonnet voor Unesco'

Sonnet for Unesco

Back in a black and white science fiction age
in Paris once a space ship ended stranded
with astronauts from every clime force-landed
and art which at that time was all the rage.

The ship, illusion-laden, had set out
toward a future vision that enshrined
a set of values for all humankind
when such as yet had not been soured by doubt.

The ideal is of course anachronistic
as is a truly selfless being who
lives on a planet where truth’s cheap at best.

But memories of times so optimistic
give hope. One can cure a myopic view
when panoramic vistas are one’s quest.




To see the original Dutch sonnet and hear the poet reading it, go to the UNESCO Nederlandse Commissie website here.

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