DEPARTURE
Between ebb and flood I read my
life’s bill of sale in the wave-rippled sand.
The words are swiftly erased by the
ravenous, irrepressible sea.
Currents of thought, pictures of future,
memories ride the silver crests.
Come and go, smash apart in the
surf, and vanish helplessly into nothingness.
I see breakers dying in the lap
of intransience like our passing
not infrequently as cruel as a thunderclap.
Dutch poem and Liwwadder translation: Melvin van Eldik
Melvin van Eldik (1954) was originally a musician and played bass in bands such as the blues/jazz formation French Connection. On National Poetry Day in 2004, Melvin won a translation competition organized by the newspaper Leeuwarder Courant and the Leeuwarden Foundation for Literary Activities. Since then he has written many lyrics and poems in the city dialect Liwwadders and organizes poetry evenings (he launched Poetry in de Bres in 2007), gives workshops, and performs at poetry slams. In addition to his independent work, Melvin regularly writes songs and poems on commission. Melvin is affiliated with poets collective Dichter bij Leeuwarden.
English translation: David McKay
David McKay is a prize-winning Dutch-English translator who has also contributed to an anthology of Frisian literature. He is particularly known for his translations of Stefan Hertmans and classic Dutch authors such as Multatuli (with Ina Rilke), J. Slauerhoff and Anton de Kom. His translation of the play The Wetsuitman by Freek Mariën has been performed numerous times in England and America and is on the 2023 Eurodram selection of texts. He is currently working on a translation of The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje.
Image: Janine van Zeeland
Janine van Zeeland (1956) started painting in her studio snuggled in the fields of north-east Friesland after a career as a lecturer in visual arts and art history. Field and farm animals are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for her. Either on their own or interacting with each other, in unexpected poses or combinations and always in the tranquillity and vastness of the polder landscape. Working with the poet Eppie Dam, she created the book Een dier is ook maar een mens (An animal is only human too) in 2021, in which Dam wrote poems for 42 of Janine’s works. She paints mainly with oil on canvas.