Fear not savory Países Bajos

you were not a notch on my bedpost

nor the bed on which to lay,

you, the name sake the same

Full of potential space to grow and make mistakes

In the caring paradise of your submerged marine terrains

The home to these navigating fins,

For the better part of 2 years

To it, this I gave before

resurfacing the Rivers Hudson & Bronx again

 

You commissioned a fortifying set of bridges

on which to reach an apex,

with little flex

Perhaps it was I who lost my way a bit

misinterpreted things in the cool air

When things were good, we were as well,

When the work had ceased

my finances tightened

A knot on a docked boat enticed by the seas

I took our glories and low maintenance attitude

The tough times assuaged by your kindness

to mean

we would never punctuate

this run on sentence we co-penned

That our friendship could uphold with generosity and understanding

perhaps I erred and took you for granted

Took our break and talk of let’s be amicable,

let’s just as per usual friends

to mean I could

ethically non-monogamously

explore other shapely lands

I placed my fingers end

To bumps of brail meaning

“that one night with your English neighbor

would be a non-issue”

That I could come jump back to the warmth of

The most uneven bed

and the curious poses of an ever-present feline friend

who welcomed my foreign sensibilities

 

Perhaps I should have left things

while they were still good but Id’ be wrong if I had

For some of the best times came when 12 struck on 12

Bringing balance to the mess

that was the 2016 oude jaar dag

Perhaps things would have been different had I not pressed on

confidently moving on your Irish cousin

A move I foreshadowed in my gestures and spending weeks before

A move that would cost more than those Euros converted to lbs

Though certainly her sites were intriguing,

they could not have held a lekker drop to your candles wick

But by then it was too late,

you had changed the locks to your door

You had asked security to the gate,

Though familiar and kind they were

I was set aside non-book

paperless with unknown intentions

I couldn’t even have others speak on my behalf

Those who wanted to, could not,

those who could,

did not have control

They defaulted to the laws of your lands

I couldn’t’ fault them for my own debt

I just wish I got to dui dui properly

But even still, you had the best of your southern

& northern families collect my things

their kindness had no limits, nor an ask in my need

 

Indeed, I got the welcome back note

Forgiving my inept mistake

And when I return, will make warm embrace

To your folk, And cold drinks over our jovial reunions

With kindred neighbors who never left

With talks we didn’t get to have

Over kaas and bier, warm drink,

whose tastes I haven’t had in far too long

 

While I know things have changed between us

Know I still hold you in strong, warm regards

That a little bit of you goes with me

And when I bike in the cool breeze

will reminisce of your lessons over the grachts,

the memories from dancing pleins, het strant, grotemarkts

and rest of the low lands below the seas

 

Notes: (Dutch to English)

Kaas : Cheese

Bier :   water …:P,  Beer

Dui : informal goodbye

Gracht : Canal