I feel quite lucky to work for publishers in multiple languages, but when I have a text intensive piece like this spread from Vrijheid [Freedom], some of the meaning gets lost without translation. So here’s my Dutch to English translations of these stirring poems. Please note: I’m neither a professional nor an official translator, but I’d like to share more of this beauty with my English-speaking audience.
Free as a Bird
Make sure that no one sees you
no one hears you
no one knows
that you exist
Stay safe
stay free
But if no one sees you
no one hears you
no one knows
that you exist
Are you still you?
Backpack
Girl with a backpack, treks bravely though mountains
with only her stuffed cuddle, some clothes and bread.
Her feet are tired and covered in sores,
She asks nothing, she doesn’t complain, she’s already so big.
Girl with a backpack, the wind in her hair,
The sun burns and gives her a clown red nose.
She wants to go back to grandma, to grandpa, her cousin,
But Dad says, “That won’t happen, we have no choice.”
Girl with a backpack, she approaches the border.
The wind whispers, singing, “You can’t go back.”
The sun says, “Don’t be afraid. You’re almost there.”
She skips, her dream dances softly on her back.
Laying Hen
As free as a bird.
What’s that?
How does it feel?
Spreading your wings
To where?
How then?
To lose an egg
My egg?
Where then?
Lay it
out for me
if you can
The book Vrijheid [Freedom] will be published by Uitgeverij Delubas in April, 2021 as a part of the Atlantis series.