SPINVIS

Bijt mijn Tong af

if you would be so kind
I’m really certain about it
silence me permanently
it’s for the best for everyone

if you would be so kind
take me to your home
put your thumb on my lips
kiss me then
and bite my tongue off

I would be happy
silently watching
like a crocodile
seeming so inscrutable

before the morning comes
and I change my mind
close the curtains
kiss me then
and bite my tongue off

I’ll thank heaven in advance
for the beetles in the grass
and for the girls from my class
and for the flowers on my grave
thanks in advance

if you would be so kind
hold my hand for a little longer
until the morning of the first day

kiss me then
and bite my tongue off

Stefan en Lisette

we grew older on the silent field
we were as skinny as the morning light
we read each other’s faces silently
about how every day ended anew
the real world was a far-off star
the town too small and the sea too far
on second thoughts, always afterwards
we had all the time
forgot all the time
all the time

nobody expected anything from us
we jumped from the pier at night
there was a deeper meaning to the dumbest joke
there was always something wrong and in the silent field stood
Stefan and Lisette, the way they always looked in pictures
so white and quiet and in the back
as if they already
as if already then
as if we already

Stefan and Lisette
always together but not really a couple
a love like that couldn’t really exist
he drank too much and she got too angry
everything I know
the way he made her laugh sometimes
nobody ever could like him
because they understood each other
and shared each other
and we looked at it

he was weird and quite a lazy guy
she was a libra and quite pretty
she had a racing bike and a tick and a captain’s hat
really who wasn’t in love back then with Lisette
Stefan was writing a book
although we never really believed him
he read Bukowski and an early Proust
he smoked Chesterfields
he cited Marx
he wore black Clarks

Rosalie was getting married and Roel and Bas
were going to go study in another town
when Lisette went as well I moved away
in June, later that same year
it just kept on raining but
the autumn would be beautiful that year
and Stefan stayed where he was
with his demo tapes
and his bass guitar
and his bookcase

the world became another land
I lost sight of everyone a bit
Stefan worked for a newspaper for a while
but then something happened with a girl, I believe
the life of Lisette
was a lot and was becoming stranger
back then she always had a broken heart
from some other guy
and some other guy
and another guy

okay okay okay we have soup
Stefan said one April day
she was back on his sidewalk
they couldn’t cook at all, but all else went quite well
at Christmas time we all visited
her bed was in the kitchen and
everything was just the way it was
he had a Christmas gift
she had his clothes on
we sang Hold the Line

they say souls get lost sometimes
they say it had snowed that day
around the trees there was a thick mist
when everything around her stopped having a name
everything I know
the way he made her laugh sometimes
nobody ever could like him yet
and the summer came
and the summer went
and the winter went away

away, away
they were in his brother’s car
It had rained or there was something on the road
but Stefan didn’t break, that’s what the neighbor says
God knows how but it went very fast
I didn’t know either, I only learned it later
on second thought, always afterwards
they understood each other
and shared each other
and we looked at it

we grew older on the silent field
we were as skinny as the morning light
we read each other’s faces silently
about how every day ended anew

Trein, Vuur, Dageraad

big train
takes me along
through europe’s night

endless
dark land
past the coast
past the border
and past the last city

(look how tall your shadow has become)
the sun coming up wasn’t long ago
(look at the birds going on their travels)
I remember giving them their wings
(hear the thunder coming nearer)
come, it’s time for us to go

dear autumn
take care of her
while she wanders through november
and first snow
like soft time
falls onto gardens
take care for her
if the world turns

(look how tall your shadow has become)
the sun coming up wasn’t long ago
(look at the birds going on their travels)
I remember giving them their wings
(hear the thunder coming nearer)
come, it’s time for us to go

between love on the left side, and eternity on the right
and in every country a home, an other side, and you
are the train, the fire, the dawn
who you’ll become
and who you used to be

look how tall your shadow has become
(between love on the left side, and eternity on the right)
the sun coming up wasn’t long ago
(and in every country a home, an other side, and you)
look at the birds going on their travels
I remember giving them their wings
(are the train, the fire, the dawn)
hear the thunder coming nearer
come, it’s time for us to go
(who you’ll become
and who you used to be)

De Dag dat Richard Krajicek Wimbledon won

I’m not one for details
there were almond cookies and beer
there was an average amount of sunshine
the day Richard Krajicek won Wimbledon

a hi-hat was lent out
we played under the Dom
I wasn’t pretty or young
the day Richard Krajicek won Wimbledon

I was on the back of Kris’s bike
in the year of the rat
he went extremely fast, man, like
what was he thinking that
somebody couldn’t die
the day Richard Krajicek won Wimbledon

the sky became black
an angel above the city
dances like a flame

in the year of the rat
not one person saw
something was over forever
forever, forever, and ever
somewhere in the hall wine glasses fell over
the day Richard Krajicek won Wimbledon

he went fast, he went fast
like a bullet that guy
in the year of the rat, man,
what was he thinking as if he
thought somebody couldn’t die
the day Richard Krajicek won Wimbledon
and she dances
like a flame, like a flame
an angel dances above the city
the sky goes black, that day, that day
nobody said you could run away

somewhere in the hall wine glasses fell over
the day Richard Krajicek won Wimbledon