DUTCH SPRING

I walk through
the 16th century

imperceptibly
passing on into

the 17th without
even knowing I had

done so and here
are Dutch people

staring at me
wondering where I've come from.

I look into their eyes
long dead by now

their painted faces
gazing out of golden frames

windows into
all that's passed.

Trying to remember
Rembrandt saying

'"...the light from other's
minds..."

And here is Saskia
still asleep in a few brushstrokes.

I tiptoe away
an intruder into

their long ago lives
different yet the same

as mine
The Jewish Bride sad

to see me go
back into the bustle

of Spring
in the Amsterdam of now.

tethered to a string
it flies,
ever free
into the early hours of dusk.
the blue and purple triangles
merging as one.  

the times of what has passed,
stolen sweets and mirthful eyes
crinkle in the sunlight.
mindless chatter fills the abyss
as the torrent sea laps at the feet
of the storyteller and the lamb.

little boy, alight with glee
turns to his father
but there,
encompassing the boundless expanse
on the empty field,
not a flower sways.

the sea once turbulent, whispers in his wake.