Bert Schierbeek     


THE EAR

In the ear of the donkey
falls the evening
in the walls the left-overs
of the sun
falls longer the shadow
and longer
in the slow movement
of the rising darkness

Bert Schierbeek

Translation: Germain Droogenbroodt From: "La Costa Poética", Point Editions, 1995

 

Het oor

 

in het zachte oor van de ezel
valt de avond
in de muren de rest
van de zon

 

valt de schaduw langer
en langer
in het trage gebaar
van de rijzende duisternis

 

Bert Schierbeek

 

From: “Formentera”, 1984

© heirs Bert Schierbeek

Published in “La Costa Poética”, POINT Editions, 1995
translated by Germain Droogenbroodt

 

 

Bert Schierbeek, born 28.6.1918 in Glanerbrug, The Netherlands, belonged to the group of the experimental Dutch and Flemish poets  in the fifties (Lucebert, Claus, Kouwenaar, Campert, Andreus...).Schierbeek published initially only novels and experimental poems which he called “proezie”, a combination of the words prose and poetry.  Attired by the Iberian island, he bought a house at the island of Formentera , where he used to stay in during the winter. The island inspired him to a series of beautiful poems, collected in the volume “Formentera”, 1984. A visit to China inspired him as well and resulted in the poetry collection “De tuin van Suzhou ” (The Garden of Suzhou ), 1986. He died in 1996