Jetze de Vries was RIXT-poet of the month June 2018. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. One of them – Harlingen and the Wadden Sea – is published here in translation.
Harlingen and the Wadden Sea
you radiant fish glow amidst the shoal
stream like music, suck you up like a sponge
your echo chamber – the sound reverberates
you dancer beat in the heart of my harbour town
blue I lay anchored at the lighthouse, heard your name
splashing under my pillow, ring tone in your body
tail tussled – seagulls shriek wildly by
you dancer beat in the heart of my harbour town
from now on the morning lies steaming on the dike
will I run past the masts, across clinkers to quay
cast off, the glittering below sea luck
your echo chamber – the sound reverberates
you dancer beat in the heart of my harbour town
© Jetze de Vries Translation: Trevor M. Scarse