Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-5r2nc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-02T07:53:39.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Quatrains for Today

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2025

Hans de Bruijn
Affiliation:
Universiteit Leiden
Get access

Summary

A inspiration, unexpected;

I thought about it for a while

everything’s back to front.

Did I come up with something new?

A spring day. So it goes on,

in spite of all the stagnation it continues …

Life won’t let itself be destroyed

Really, what is it we’re doing?

Day three: time to think up something new.

Nothing comes to mind this morning.

Just let’s write something, letting it come

if you lose, you can also win.

You live under an empty sky on an earth

which soon will contain nothing of value.

You came here unexpectedly, and the departure

is a secret that They’ve guarded very well.

Just as the old man meditated on death,

we chose an existence under the sun

and dreams of eternal life,

Stretched out on this dilapidated balcony.

If tomorrow the black hole appears

In which everything – Obama, Putin and the rest – disappear,

Somewhere a pious mullah will still think, for one second,

That the Hidden One is now to be revealed

God’s Sign cannot stand the pigeons.

How dare they risk His glance?

There will be an earthquake like no other

If He listlessly sets His burden down.

Not a word since April. Is it over?

Or did time move on in silence?

Is there any point in going on?

Autumn is beginning. A new sound?

The winter came too early this year;

I’m far from ready.

The last gap in the ice slowly freezes over;

The birds observe it all.

The snow slows all the movements

of both body and mind. It hinders you.

Now you take no step without a thought,

Wary of unexplained paths

I spent a year with birds

And I came up with some verses about them.

Now I don’t remember anything, and I let it go.

But … what if the thrush were to sing, unexpectedly?

ANONYMUS

My name? I’ve never known it.

House or town? Long forgotten.

Actually, there’s no hope of finding it again:

The nameplate is worn away.

The bird of Time completes its round.

We’ve never found the time

to finish what had to be done.

Now, all those seconds are gone.

You wash away the old year with a little wine,

You hug each other in the hope of being happy.

But soon you’ll look back despondently:

how fine life was, back then!

You used to believe in God

Type
Chapter
Information
Pearls of Meaning
Studies on Persian Art, Poetry, Sufism and History of Iranian Studies in Europe
, pp. 277 - 284
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×