Thinking of Holland
Hendrik Marsman, 1936
Thinking of Holland
I see broad rivers
languidly winding
through endless fen,
lines of incredibly
tenuous poplars
like giant plumes
on the polder’s rim;
and sunk in tremendous
open expanses,
the farmsteads scattered
across the plain:
coppices, hamlets,
squat towers and churches
and elms composing
a rich domain.
Low leans the sky
and slowly the sun
in mist of mother
of pearl grows blurred,
and far and wide
the voice of the water,
of endless disaster,
is heard and feared.
From Poëzie, 1938 Translated by James Brockway (in ‘The Literary Review’, V, 2, Teaneck (NJ), 1961-1962). Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (http://www.dbnl.org/index.php) http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_low001199501_01/_low001199501_01_0008.php Source: The Low Countries. Jaargang 3. Stichting Ons Erfdeel, Rekkem 1995-1996, p. 72.
“Low leans the sky” – love love love. The photos are exquisite, especially imho 2 (the feature also) and 7. Mondrian it seems was merely a documentarist.
Merely — although I wonder if you can see this from the squat church towers. Yes, isn’t “low leans the sky” incredible? Also, “incredibly tenuous poplars” and “tremendous open expanses.”