“I saw a ship a-sinking, a-sinking, a-sinking,
With glittering sea-water splashing on her decks,
With seamen in her spirit-room singing songs and drinking,
Pulling claret bottles down, and knocking off the necks,
The broken glass was chinking as she sank among the wrecks.”
(J. Masefield in I saw a ship)
Angleur (B)
“Nun wachen wir mit den Erinnerungen
und halten das Gesicht an das, was war;
flüsternde Süße, die uns einst durchdrungen,
sitzt schweigend neben mit gelöstem Haar”
(R.M. Rilke in Nun wachen wir in …)
Wormerveer (NL)
“This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main, —
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.”
(O.W. Holmes in The chambered nautilus)
Liège (B)
"Sweet breeze of secret words, which, penetrating through my ears to my heart woke Love, who was sleeping there ..." (Anonymous, Aura soave; English by J.G. Paton) Brussel (B)
“Oh the time will come up
When the winds will stop
And the breeze will cease to be breathin’
Like the stillness in the wind
’Fore the hurricane begins
The hour when the ship comes in.”
(Bob Dylan in When the ship comes in)
Lanaken (B)