Today, the world looked safer / without sirens, no shooting till 14 hours / and the car moved smoothly
accross the border / separating two countries for long / only in war having been united by force.
One hour later, the friends did meet / first time in almost 4 months.
It took two hours to talk down / the big C that shaped lives / and for leaving the extra coat / worn for safety.
And then they took a dive where it was / forbidden / followed by coffee on / a terrace looking at the river Rhine.
(terras aan de rivier de Rijn)
Vandaag kwam de wereld veiliger over / zonder sirenes, geen schieten tot 14 uur / en de auto bewoog langzaam / langs de grens / die de twee landen lang had gescheiden / alleen verenigd in de oorlog / door macht.
Eén uur later, ontmoetten de vrienden / elkaar voor het eerst in bijna vier maanden. / Het nam twee uur om de grote C / omlaag te praten, die het leven beheerste / en om de extra jas – gedragen voor de veiligheid – achter te laten.
En toen doken ze in het water waar het verboden was / gevolgd door koffie op / een terras dat uitkeek op de rivier de Rijn.
Drager Meurtant, June 24, 2020 (during lift of first Covid19 lockdown, minor corrections Jan 29, 2024)
The line was drawn by / two fingers of a cramped / hand of the writer who wanted / words catched in image, this time / but halfway the paper / had to experience the line let / loose of the tip of the pencil,
and / next
moved freely through space / – that served the scene – / to land in the end / in a dash, or dot / on the ceiling.
Content – where the ink was scraped, there came content (DM, 2021, monoprint)
De lijn werd getrokken door / twee vingers aan de krampachtige / hand van de schrijver die woorden, nu eens / in beeld wilde vatten / maar halfweg het papier / moest ervaren dat de lijn los liet / van de punt van het potlood,
en / vervolgens
vrijelijk bewoog in de ruimte / – die plaats bood voor de scene – / om uiteindelijk te landen / in een vlek, of punt / op het plafond.
(Text & image / terkst en beeld, Drager Meurtant, 2021-2024)
Today was different: it started grey and fairly cold. One year of 21st century pandemic, has certain effects. Dominant is the feeling of uncertainty. There are roadblocks at the border. Still, after six months with meetings by ‘skype’ only, the three of us met at small parking-place, to walk in the forest.
three photographers meet one tree
No kissing or hugging, we focus on nature, and some human acts.
inscriptions from earlier date
One should not carve in skin of trees, but testimonies often are built on scars.
yet another scar
Going north, a logger had felled a tree and new life settled on the cut surface.
The face of a logger
Tiny leaves left from autumn, have shadows imprinted on bark.
fragile shadows
About fifty years ago, someone planted stakes on (and with a) purpose. One straight, the other leaning for support, joined with an iron nail.
so much at stake
Here, there is quietude, and the option to choose which way to go.
the other way
At another time, one may meet a fellow traveler on this earth, his/her shelter being a hole in the ground.
Fox hole
Someone took a token of belief, and by placing it in old tree trunk, fixed time and memory.
token
The clefts and riggles of bark of this birch tree surpass abstraction.
birch
“Three of us is enough: not afraid of tension or to separate fields, and create boundaries”
the three of us
text and images (c) Drager Meurtant, March 7-8, 2021
Only after crossing trenches / and brooks, and raising / fallen trees upright, // followed by rubbing out / the dirty ground from narrow eyes, // and by calling loud: “I’m alone!” // motion started behind / the bushes.
Slechts na oversteek van greppels / en kreken, en het rechtzetten / van omgevallen bomen, // waarna de vuile grond uit geknepen ogen / werd gewreven , // en door luid te roepen: “ik ben alleen!” // kwam er beweging vanachter / het struikgewas.
drager-meurtant 