Zywa

Murderously, they

attack, but we are as strong --

as our brotherhood!



Moordend vallen ze	Sie greifen an, doch
aan, maar wij zijn zo sterk als --	wir sind so stark wie unse-

onze broederschap!	re Brüderlichkeit!

Poem H6214
Amsterdam, 2026-04-26
The wolves have entered Paris (Albert Vidalie) - 1967
Song "Les loups sont entrés dans Paris" (music Louis Bessières), sung by Serge Reggiani (album "No2 Bobino")
About the troops of the pro-German republicans in May 1871, the German army in 1940, and the rising fascism in 1967
Collection: Human excess
Tribute to: Vidalie, Albert; Reggiani, Serge

To want a piece of

the pie is only human,

says the corrupt man.



Een graantje willen	Ein Stück vom Kuchen
meepikken is menselijk,	zu wollen ist ja menschlich,

zegt de corrupte.	sagt der Korrupte.

Poem S3078
Amsterdam, 2026-02-15
We are more corrupt than we think (Beatrice de Graaf) - 2026
Article "We zijn corrupter dan we denken", in the NRC of February 14th, 2026
Collection: Wean Di
Tribute to: De Graaf, Beatrice

Zywa Sacrifices

How small am I willing
to live, in a small circle
with small wishes

in small style, with
a small mouth and
a small stomach?

Not wanting to experience
everything, not wanting to know
everything, just quickly, without

interest or return
without regard
for my environment?

Are these sacrifices
to live this way, or
are they simply steps

toward contentment
well-being, equality
and brotherhood?

Poem 5817
Amsterdam, 2026-01-11
Collection: Changing Times

I am curious

about others, as their lives --

are almost like mine.



Ik ben nieuwsgierig	Ich bin neugierig
naar anderen, hun levens --	auf andere, ihr Leben --

zijn als het mijne.	ist fast wie meines.

Poem H5473
Amsterdam, 2025-05-17
Three Colours: Red - Fraternity (Krzysztof Kieslowski) - 1994
Film "Trois couleurs: Rouge" - Fraternité
The genetic, social and cultural brotherhood of humans
Collection: The drama
Tribute to: Kieslowski, Krzysztof

Zywa The beam scales

Judges weigh accomplished facts
   (against justice)
boards weigh costs and benefits
   (against set goals)
and representatives
   weigh desires and greed
   (against peace and prosperity)

They must work together
listen and talk things over
esteem no one less or more
than themselves

but chosen they are
a mirror of the voters
divided, and a partial
interest is easier

   (with distorted scales
     false weights and
     the stories that owners
     write behind the scenes
     to rationalise their theft)
to promote than a long-
term general interest

Poem 5342
Amsterdam, 2023-10-17
Collection: PumicePieces

Being so concerned

with the oppressed everywhere --

just not with colleagues...



Zo graag solidair	So solidarisch
met onderdrukten, alleen --	mit den Unterdrückten, nur --

niet met collega's...	nicht mit Kollegen...

Poem S1724
Amsterdam, 2023-04-02
The Office - The Death of Maarten Koning (Han Voskuil) - 2000
Novel "Het Bureau - De dood van Maarten Koning"
Page 191, Maarten Koning and Eef Batteljee (1989)
Collection: Frustration
Tribute to: Voskuil, Han

The gum bubble bursts,

people scream about profit

motives: blue murder!



De kauwgombel barst,	Die Blase zerplatzt,
iedereen schreeuwt moord en brand --	alle schreien Mordio --

over winstbejag.	über Gewinnsucht.

Poem S1638
Amsterdam, 2023-01-12
Three Colours: Red - Fraternity (Krzysztof Kieslowski) - 1994
Valentine
Film "Trois couleurs: Rouge" - Fraternité
Collection: The drama
Tribute to: Kieslowski, Krzysztof

Eavesdropping always

changes something, except when --

it's done secretly.



Als je afluistert	Wenn man lauscht, wird sich
verandert er iets, tenzij --	etwas ändern, es sei denn --

je het stiekem doet.	man tut es heimlich.

Poem S1639
Amsterdam, 2023-01-12
Three Colours: Red - Fraternity (Krzysztof Kieslowski) - 1994
Film "Trois couleurs: Rouge" - Fraternité
Collection: The drama
Tribute to: Kieslowski, Krzysztof

Feel sorry for me,

I don't know how it all goes --

and no one helps me.



Beklaag me, ik weet	Ach, beklage mich,
niet hoe alles werkt en hoort --	ich weiß nicht, wie alles geht --

en niemand helpt mij.	und niemand hilft mir.

Poem S1608
Amsterdam, 2022-12-19
The royal banner (Luigi Pirandello) - 1897
Story "Vexilla Regis...", the first words of a hymn in honour of the Holy Cross
Collection: Shelter
Tribute to: Pirandello, Luigi

Ism's promise order.

Is their standard everything --

is for everyone?



Ismes beloven	Ismen versprechen
orde, met als maat alles --	Ordnung, mit als Maß alles --

is voor iedereen?	ist für alle da?

Poem H3156
Amsterdam, 2021-12-24
Collection: The Praised One

Zywa For girls and for peace

The song, that girl, touches me
time and time again, although I don't want to
think often of her

That girl without hair comb
without dress, just only a number
on her hand

and Antonis who carries someone else's burden

For whom do I carry the burden
of their lives, why
is their life also mine?

It just has to be for you
neighbour, for you, refugee
for girls and for peace

Poem 3946
Amsterdam, 2021-09-23
Ballad of Mauthausen (Iakovos Kambanellis) - 1963
The Ballad of Mauthausen (1963, Iakovos Kambanellis)
1965, music Mikis Theodorakis
1966, performed by Maria Farantouri
Collection: BloodTrunk
Tribute to: Kambanellis, Iakovos; Theodorakis, Mikis

Zywa Away from where you are

I feel the discomfort
of staying where I am
and leaving the problem

to someone else's job or duty
to the neighbours with whom it happens
on the outskirts of the village

It's urgent, there is need
to fix the houses and the barns
but

it takes too long
or there is too little time
for my impatience

I talk with the neighbours
while we wait
until we can move on

within reason and the rules
of the comfort of staying
where we are

Poem 3562
Amsterdam, 2021-03-22
Damage caused by the industry
Collection: Lilith's Powers

Zywa The pink shoes

With a bowed head, Pilar is toiling
through the sand, she's been playing
along the edge, where the water is white
from foam, coming and flowing back
much further than she can see

Mama knows right away
Pilar, where are your shoes?
Tell me, where did you put them?
Here Señora, look, I got them

You know, I have a girl like her
but she is ill, she has a fever
and cold feet, we don't have money
to buy shoes, and all of a sudden
she was wearing these pink shoes!

Three women listen in
they flap out their handkerchief
when Pilar gives her hoop
her bucket with the shovel

and a kiss as a goodbye
to the sick girl
who will grow up and
will keep the pink shoes
in a glass jar

Poem 2799
Amsterdam, 2020-03-18
The pink shoes (José Martí) - 1889
Poem "Los zapaticos de rosa"
Collection: Untwisted
Tribute to: Marti, José

Zywa Moving where?

Maybe I'll have to move
the neighbours are watching
whether I belong to them

and don't go too far
in oddities
Well, a little can be funny

They are also proud themselves
of their profession, their unforgettable
exploits and their indispensability

for the traditional holidays
for everyone, including me
so they count on me

I value their faces
what kind of men they are
fighters with an ax

in their hands, or soldiers
in black clothes, servants
of the dread counsellor

Poem 2602
Amsterdam, 2020-01-01
Ideological uniformity
In the Chinese chess game ("Elephant Game") the red army has 5 B?ng-soldiers ("foot soldier") and the black army has 5 Zú-soldiers ("private", "property")
The symbol voor B?ng is an ax in two hands, the symbol for Zú is a corn field
Collection: The drama

Zywa Ask the way

I don't want to proclaim exalted rules
living up to them is enough
for me and sometimes
I help a blind person

not by guiding her
to the best begging places
but by giving her a bike
so she can go on her own

outside the economic frameworks
of desire, possession and preservation
and then will have to ask children
and searching people the way

because there are no billboards
and no remembrance boxes
with suspended ideals
Only people of flesh and blood

Yeah, the old people are still young
over there

Poem 2598
Amsterdam, 2019-12-31
Collection: The climbing house

Zywa Garden of Friends

With friends through a wormhole
from the magic tree to the cave
in the sea and across the threshold

into the arms of the octopus
protecting me under sea stars
with a sign on our foreheads

We share bread and water
sing and dance over corals
of friendship in the garden

decorated with cans and glass
along paths of silver scales
and shells with wonder shine

In the garden we are safe
from the lightning storms above us
on the sea, there is no struggle here

we share, sing and dance
in the hidden Garden of Friends
on the large bed of the sea

Poem 2467
Amsterdam, 2019-10-22
Octopus's garden (Ringo Starr, The Beatles) - 1969
Song (album "Abbey Road")
Celtic symbolism: Ouir (the Oak), the tree of calm, truth and steadfast knowledge; the Oak should be guided by Dagda (the father of all gods) and the Wren (the king of the birds and the symbol of wit and subtlety)
Mithraism: mitra = friend(ship)
Collection: Lilith's Powers
Tribute to: Starr, Ringo; The Beatles

Zywa Family bed

Shoot me, shoot me
shoot me to heaven
up in the oak, everyone
barefoot on the family bed
     Come join us, here you are free!

We don't have to believe in anything
except in each other, the singer too
is loose, he laughs at his amulet
and waves to the old man:
     Come join us, here you are free!

The greybeard sees everything
with twinkling eyes in his long beard
full of bushes of moss in which
the wren whistles:
     Come join us, here you are free!

Come in the Crown
take off your shoes and socks
together on the family bed
a warm blanket to each other
     Come join us, here you are free!

Poem 2463
Amsterdam, 2019-10-21
Come together (John Lennon, The Beatles) - 1969
Song (album "Abbey Road")
Celtic symbolism: Ouir (the Oak), the tree of calm, truth and steadfast knowledge; the Oak should be guided by Dagda (the father of all gods) and the Wren (the king of the birds and the symbol of wit and subtlety)
Singer: Chuck Berry
Collection: Lilith's Powers
Tribute to: Lennon, John; The Beatles

Zywa Sand pirates

Will there be sand pirates
as long as there are people
living in sand?

The desert is in bloom after a day
of rain, at night the water dribbles

between the shoots of bushes
and young trees - a wise lesson

in politics, to distribute what is there
whoever the people are

and wherever they live, for
the rain and the earth are free:

a field and a garden for everyone
believing or not

in freedom and equality
believing or not

that God exists
and does not get tired
of giving mankind new chances

Poem 2221
Amsterdam, 2019-04-25
Islamic tradition: Muhammad (Mount Hira) - 610
Meditation in a cave of Mount Hira near Mecca, AD 610
Collection: The Praised One

Zywa Sub Undersea

Come underground, come undersea
Come, join us soon if you are free
everyone on board, everyone a cheer
there are no mosquitoes here

in the Sub Undersea
Join us, don't disagree
Here you're fine, we'll be together
here you can be friends forever

The skies ahead are heavenly
there is music, there is plenty
of everything, just avoid the virtues
the household and the clues

of life as long as we are in the flow
And afterwards, without the rainbow
there'll be the pleasure of floating around
a bit until we run aground

Come, none of us at all does mind
whether you are the diver's kind
because we're also friends ashore
Come, don't stand aside no more

Poem 1931
Amsterdam, 2018-11-17
Yellow Submarine (Paul McCartney, The Beatles) - 1966
Song "Yellow Submarine" (Paul McCartney, lead-vocals Ringo Starr; The Beatles; film 1968)
The song is not about a psychedelic pill
Collection: Lilith's Powers
Tribute to: McCartney, Paul; The Beatles

Zywa Homo curans

To make it up there was a good fairy

She gave me her veil-cloak as a bed
as a tent, a reality
of being invisible or
making invisible, of

forgetting false kisses
for today's lips
of ever a new day
of ignoring what hurts

of never, never giving up
of spitting out the quicksand
of learning that I carry with me
what I left behind

This little piece is left
of the veil, often torn
to give half of what I had
to whom I came across

Poem 1617
Amsterdam, 2017-11-17
Collection: Untwisted

Those who don't conform,

are outside of society --

I can be their friend.



Wie zich niet aanpast,	Wer sich nicht anpasst,
valt buiten de maatschappij --	wird einfach ausgeschlossen --

Ik kan hun vriend zijn.	Ich kann sein Freund sein.

Poem S0473
Amsterdam, 2017-04-15
The Office - Mister Beerta (Han Voskuil) - 1996
Novel "Het Bureau - Meneer Beerta" - 1959
Collection: Dirty hands
Tribute to: Voskuil, Han

Zywa They just have to suffer

People must suffer
until they are strong enough

to make demands
But why me?

I only have one life, may have
it better in another country

and if they don't want me there
then the people here should

help me, even though
they have nothing

to do with it except that
that we are humans

They just have to
suffer

until they will:
be the owner

of the problems and the solutions
the owner of their ideals

Poem 1229
Amsterdam, 2017-03-19
Collection: Blown sand

Zywa Chairman

Sometimes someone shouts
out of a window, behind the parapet
of his right, sometimes someone calls

back or doors slam shut
I listen and I have legs
to cross over

and I take a seat
in the sun, in the inner yard
where the emotions collide

with freedom and necessity
Sometimes I sigh
but with love

Poem 1223
Amsterdam, 2017-03-15
Homeowner Association
Collection: Life line

I get exhausted,

and besides that, there is you --

Will you come help me?



Ik raak uitgeput,	Ich werde erschöpft,
en dan ben jij er ook nog --	und dann bist du auch noch da --

Kom je me helpen?	Wirst du mir helfen?

Poem S0045
Amsterdam, 2012-02-13
Collection: The King

Brotherhood
Amsterdam, 2007-02-01
For the March parish magazine
Collection: Pencil


Bonobos
share everything with each other

I too am social

I like to share:
I dont put anyone at a disadvantage
I grow in contact with other people
I have a good life with others

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