Bruised
She drew shadows, long and warm
of courtship on a cobbled road.
Her cast iron form’s an extravagance
when lights were luxuries bestowed.
My town, our time, is fat and full
of fluorescent, amped up, shallow filth
as to mock her shame in naked rust
and tilt away from traffic spilth.
In these few melancholic lines
she’s crowned, proud for both of us
and highlights a low lit past before
getting bruised by the five o’clock bus.
Editorial note: the original poem, written in Dutch, was an Ekphrastic verse very much inspired by this piece of art and as such got published in Benne’s official poetry debut ‘Opgeruimd Razen’ (publishing house Kleine Uil, 2005).
