Miriam Van hee (Belgium)

one day the time comes
 
it would be good, when one day the time comes,
if we long to go outside
in the morning and, should we be
brave enough, if we enter the forest
 
in search of a spot where we used
to go, where we’d lie on a rock
overlooking a bend in the river
something was about to happen, an animal
 
would show its face, let no one disturb us
when one day the time comes and we’ve solved
our problems at last and are free, let’s see then
if we can hear the sounds of the water already,
 
we knew something about the world after all
we had waited for the snow, for the
train, we had stayed behind at school, we
had climbed, we’d got lost
 
we were found, so, when one day the time comes,
let’s choose the rough path over the smooth,
let’s not look back, there will always
be something we recognise, the soft, yielding soil
 
beneath the pine trees, we used to love that


Translated from the Dutch by Judith Wilkinson
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source text: Miriam Van hee, Ook daar valt het licht, De Bezige Bij 2013