“Life is vurrukkulluk”: Dutch writer Remco Campert (92) passed away

Light of my life

I saw the light of day in The Hague
but in Amsterdam, Van Eeghenlaan seven,
in the midst of poets (Lucebert’s laugh,
Schierbeek’s hiccuping Book I), saws
my words the light
that never left me, faithful
through thick and thinner than thick

now so many years later
I walk through the streets
from the same Amsterdam, until
in a blinking moment
life will let go of me

then let me, that moment has come,
again for a while
float above the Stedelijk
then further higher
above the trees in Vondelpark
after which I, my time lifted,
forever disintegration, unite
with the fine dust of the city,
with the reflection of the sunlight
in the water of the canal
and be taken with a smile
and the girl’s dreams
that I once saw at a tram stop

–