November 2022

Sipke de Schiffart was RIXT Poet of the Month for November 2022. You can read his original Frisian poems from that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘Apostate’ – is published below.

Photo: Geart Tigchelaar
apostate

once the national coach was a pious,
loyal church attendee, until 
his first wife passed away

he turned away from his belief,
did not set foot in a church anymore

strange, when you think about it

all the misery in the world, the famine
and starvation of millions of small children in Africa,
the enormous slaughter in his own country’s bioindustry,
Auschwitz and you name it

none of that was a reason for him
to leave the church,
but when his own wife passed,
he was so incensed,
that he wanted nothing to do 
with God anymore

fortunately for Dutch football
he does know a lot about the game


© Sipke de Schiffart
translation: Trevor Scarse

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