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I dreamt I slowly lived Much slower than the most ancient stone. It was a nightmare: all around me Everything got on, shuddering and shaking, What seems still. I saw the urge with which The trees wrest free from the earth Singing in a hoarse and jerking voice; And seasons flew away As coloured rainbows I saw the tremor of the sea, Its swelling and its hurried falling, Like the gulping of a thirsty throat And day and night were but a second Flaming and put out again: a wavering fire. - Despair and eloquence In gestures of things that are Usually stiff, and the wrestling, This breathless, cruel strife How could I not see this before, Not see more clearly, in earlier days? How can I ever forget again? M. Vasalis Translation from the Dutch By Leny Roovers

'M. Vasalis
M. Droogleever Fortuyn-Leenmans
Geboren: 1909
Overleden: 1998

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