Not waving but drowning

11 Juli 2015



Mijn favoriete schrijfster van het moment is by far Stevie Smith. Ik hartje elke letter die ze de moeite heeft genomen te typen. 
 
Not waving but drowning is haar meest beroemde gedicht:
"Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning."

In the English Visitor (poëem over bezoeken van het graf van een geliefde) vond ik een simile (dank lazy afternoon in de zon):
"Is that an eagle in the sky wheeling?
No it is not wheeling but weaving
[...]
And the people said she would never think of Alan again
And it was typical of Englishwomen.
But No, said an angel, you are wrong
She will think of him freely and frequently
She is not less sorry than you are
Only she was brought up differently."


WHAT IS SHE WRITING?
PERHAPS IT WILL BE GOOD.

"What is she writing? Perhaps it will be good,
The young girl laughs: 'I am in love.'
But the older girl is serious: 'Not now, perhaps later.'
Still the young girl teases: 'What's the matter?
To lose everyting! A waste of time!'
But now the older one is quite silent,
Writing, writing, and perhaps it will be good.
Really neither girl is a fool."

- Aanraders -