As long as the ink is wet
the farm stays in speech.

A crow searches the dunghill
as a finger browsing a dictionary.

In the backyard notions lay
rusting as fatigued steel.

The door in which a sty begins
gives off a smell of old poetry.

In ink splatters the flies swarm
out across the creaking barrow.

The hand that is about to dig
roots meaninglessly through the feed.

The waiting eyes look moist,
moved by hunger.

Translated by Willem Groenewegen