Leonard Nolens Comments

1. Last Wishes (by Leonard Nolens) At that moment it will all be easy, Mother there’ll be pregnant With the same son, On father’s stone Reconciliation, large as life, Its case will be consigned To the sea, at that moment Going will be easy. So take my coat off then, I wore it for form’s sake. And take my trousers off, As I did every day. And lay me slowly, slowly In a box, for I was slow. And keep me in a grave, I don’t want an oven.

2. Don’t burn my bones. I’ve been on fire enough. I’ve long since baked right through. Don’t turn my crumbs to ash. Lower me, haltingly, As I have always lived. And bless that bread with a cross Just as my mother did. Carve my name, my dates, So even the blind can see me. For me alone my life’s in vain, And was in vain. But not for us. (Leonard Nolens)

1. Kiss (by Leonard Nolens) With you away my time has overflowed. Gone are the banks which were my vantage point, Gone are the firm contours of our presence. You directed all waters, brought the Greek river Of passing time to our house and put it to sleep In our bed, we could see it through ourselves. Tomorrow when you return the hours can converge again here

2. At our door and flow straight and true on their course. We shall be clearly reflected up here, High up on the banks, now submerged, we shall sit To join hands and relinquish the chaos. We’ll embrace to delimit dry land, To define emptiness with a kiss. (Leonard Nolens)

Winner of the Dutch Literature Prize, the most important literary award in the Dutch language area, in 2012, Leonard Nolens is a monumental figure in Flemish poetry. His poetry forms one of the most all-encompassing and uncompromising oeuvres in Dutch-language literature.

Leon Helena Sylvain Nolens (born 11 April 1947 in Bree) , pseudonym Leonard Nolens, is a Belgian poet and diary writer. Nolens lives and works in Antwerp. [Wikipedia]