The way people fly
in old engravings, so clear-cut
so credulous.

Between portraits of emperors
and soldiers, vertebrates and
whales, so irrefutable.

Did they lose the knack later on,
due to a loss of elasticity
in their fingers, too much lead

in their bloodline? Swallows
in waiting, chattering
on telephone wires.

Translation: Willem Groenewegen, 2010.