I will make you an epitaph that everyone will know by heart Poem by Maria van Daalen

for my father Frans Nicolaas de Rooij (1920-1996)
in his lifetime church organist and naval architect
i will make you an epitaph that everyone will know by heart

within / i go on up / it is dark / and upstairs is
the heaven of the church the shore of the sea the beach the ebb
and in the splendid wet plain lies a water
a bowl a source an upsurge i kneel and baptize

both of my hands my flushed face you bring up the fresh water
with calm and with control it fills my mouth my speech
i bow i wash my brow i bathe the tears
salt washes in fresh the ebb flows down my legs i sink a little in the wet wet sand

the sea is behind me the spume lies at my head a cockle shell is open empty is white
even while drinking i know that the sea
the sea slowly returns she regains the metres she sucks and spews

out the flotsam it lies high the spume rustles at my left right heel
i am still drinking but the source becomes brackish you take up the theme you play
the fugue / up on the stairs / and it is dark