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Poetry

[One fine day it was night]

By Hans Faverey
Translated from Dutch by Francis R. Jones

One fine day it was night.
I seemed to be just
about to catch my first
fish. Suddenly it allconspires against me.
It was too late
to unbait my hook.

I head for home,

humming in my sleep,
to worship the dark-
ness, with pounding heart.

 

From Springvossen (Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2000). By arrangement with the estate of Hans Faverey.

English

One fine day it was night.
I seemed to be just
about to catch my first
fish. Suddenly it allconspires against me.
It was too late
to unbait my hook.

I head for home,

humming in my sleep,
to worship the dark-
ness, with pounding heart.

 

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