Winter in Amsterdam, 1996
Published
Topic
Sadness
Days are raw
seagulls gather on the ice, cackling angrily
I dream of spring and seventeenth-century Dutch tulips -
glorious corruption but abundant life.
I remember the winter seventeen years ago
also bitterly cold and my days all darkness
It was February and no snowdrops
my children were small, their thin lives hurt me
I felt utterly alone in an alien land.
Now I am lost, but friends surround me
My children have grown up and buttress me
against life's pain and grief
Marvellous antidote to my confusion.
Coldly the sun shines and the wind cuts
But I am familiar with these streets
I shall walk out new routes
I shall not drown beneath the icy water
There will be dancing and new days