and the wind plays am ambiguous song
and the rain types a banned book on the rooftops

“God’s taking photos,” Mum said when lightning struck

I’m just a simple Frisian
not cut out for office work
no head for numbers
and two left hands

so I muddle along with poems

sometimes I stumble,
a dunderhead full of worries, no,
a thunderhead full of sparks!
to the window
almost tripping
over summer’s slimmest stripe

when, from the back of the room,
a voice I know so well: “Look at those
tumbling clouds, what a wonderful sky!”

Translation: David Colmer