TRANSLATIONS: ENGLISH

MAAS / MEUSE

Sweet water, then salt
And back again, that is what
The Maas wants, flowing

Through the rolling landscape.
Lovely like a silvery eel,
Chaste like Stella Maris.

Mother of the salt
And the sweet, blessed be
The ships full of wine and

English fun.
Blessed Maastricht,
Rimbaud's ghost,

The wet backs of the
Stations of the Cross and the
Veldeke's stone statue.

But equally the Maas
Wants bridges, spectacular
Bridges under which

Her wintry aspect
Whirls. And suicides
Throw themselves

Into shining picture
Postcards of self-deception
And flowing water. Even the

Dry white wine of Slavante
Is what the river wants to
Become breath of the sea,

A ghost of itself. Always
Paddling cheekily in an
Ever-changing counter-stream.

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