VELDMAN, Vick
(to our daughter)
What matters
Small things remain:
the peace of rustling poplars,
the yellow of buttercups and grass growing green,
the smell of woods after vernal showers,
the smile, the blush on a girl’s cheeks,
the warmth of your name,
the child’s hand at the window,
the tear that makes you understand:
“I’ll be there.”
Ukrainian diatribe
How long*, malicious Putler,
will you defy humanity?
With your filthy oligarch clique
you make the whole world sick.
How long, phoney Putler,
do you send bombs and missiles?
Democracy and freedom are slain
and we just buy oil, gas and grain.
How much longer, rotten Putler,
do you keep lying, threatening,
at giant tables in palaces?
Europe will pay the price,
trembling behind Uncle Sam's back:
all those killings, millions on the run.
* Cicero: Catilinarian Speeches
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and asters they stand dreaming. I still taste autumn raspberries and look at late pink roses.
and the daylight slowly dying. Still grow the white anemones, and vine driving out the demons.
at the end of way too short years.
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en staan er asters vaag te dromen. Nog proef ik herfstframbozen en keur ik de late roze rozen.
en gaat daglicht langzaam dood. Nog groeien de witte anemonen, en verdrijft wingerd de demonen.
aan het eind van veel te korte jaren.
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