Geart Tigchelaar was RIXT-poet of the month March 2018. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. One of them – The word that lives on the wind– is published here in translation.
The word that lives on the wind
stones sprung forth from the hard soil
do not merely accuse our old sins
but the look glancing across the clear horizon
as human after human has sought refuge
in boasting about their own hearth for centuries
nothing lasts and all that left brought less
connection through the lies in stained glass
clung unto the old stories and stubborn unbelief
that need neither heavy roof nor deep foundation
the sentence that’s blown away like the dust from your skin
one day we too my love will go into that same soil
words that unveiled our sincerity always
colour into new verses on misted windows
the soul of each letter that grows in freedom
like arching reeds stands as long as the world
disappears in thirsty white horses near the cliffs
© Geart Tigchelaar Translation: Trevor M. Scarse