Dutch Dash Poem by C Richard Miles

All flushed, we pushed and dashed to rush
To catch that train, so fast and plush
And flash through cross-hatched countryside
Past criss-cross dykes, which washed so wide
Across the grass-patched, flattened plain
All splashed and lashed by spattering rain
Which swept the lush, Dutch polderlands
All patterned stripes, like Mondrian’s.

By busy windmills in a whirl
Like dizzy spindles spinning wool,
We flitted past cud-crunching cows
And shuttled swift by slushy sloughs
Midst murky mires, fast dammed by dikes
Where muscled lads rode bustling bikes
Which whipped along on muddy treads.
Whilst rushing wind ripped clouds to shreds.

Sliced skies were snared by spikes and spires,
All diced and squared by tracks and wires,
In pastel palettes on the scene,
Pastures were passed, lank, flat and green.
Stares fixed betwixt the grassy banks,
Watched herons, perched on stilt-like shanks
To catch the fish in reed-stacked lakes
Which splashed amongst massed ducks and drakes.

No master artist in gouache
Could paint those sights with brash panache
That crammed that landscape stark and vast
And reminiscences will last
That passed my way all mixed and matched,
With wistful memories attached
Which flicker back in recall’s flash
To recreate that rich Dutch dash.