Cosmic Struggle

Cosmic Battle in fifteen breaths of air by Hans Brinker 1

Somewhere between the Dunes Somewhere between Zandvoort and Scheveningen In the middle of the beach Behind the mighty dikes I stand as a warrior Strategically positioned between the piers Armed against the tide of hordes Like a soldier in Wellingtons army at Waterloo Like Lieutenant Sharpe with his precision rifle Without his comrades Between the hordes And the naked defenseless Dunes 2 I stand as rigidly as a soldier Like a faithful fighter Knowing that today The world's destiny is decided By me and by me alone 3 Young I am, and full of strength When I put the fate of the world On my shoulders 4 Feeling its heavy burden And walking on the pier without fear Despite the boiling waves That jump at my feet To bring me out of balance Because the hordes are on the side of nature And nature is their ally And everything is set against me To keep me from my duty 5 They want to free the way

For their treacherous attack on the Dunes And their soaring plumes of dark green grass That should keep the sand safe To safeguard the coast That keeps the villages That defend the farms That I have seen today 6 There they are It's really them I know and greet my enemy A courteous nod of recognition On the pier between the black rocks That bite me with their fierce teeth When I stumble over them On two arms and two legs My bucket and my shovel Firmly in my left hand As the last resort against the monsters That crawl beneath me Hundreds, thousands of them that hide when I come to vanquish their leader 7 After they have seen me with their long-stemmed eyes No pretense of peace is made again For they know and I know it too that this struggle is to the death and will not end until one of us has breathed his last 8 My shovel in my right hand I attack, attack again I thrust and parry I deflect the glistening claw But I reach the belly of my enemy The destroyer of farms and coasts And turn him upside down on the rocks But the gray waves come to his aid

And the cruel eyes of the coast destructor Disappear into the crevice Between the black rocks Armed with sea pocks And sharp mussels To prevent me from pursuit And they have gained Because of a sudden pain in my left foot I cannot advance along their left flank 9 But the next one I outwit And when he flies my bucket is there The unrelenting enemy is caught In the low water of my yellow bucket And in vain he climbs the steep and slippery slopes Until exhausted he sits and waits Until I will put my finger in to tease 10 But this enemy does not know me And my supreme intelligence For I can read and write And know things others do not Such as that Indians are called that way Because Columbus thought he found The western route to India So not all adults are clever, are they For I know better And it was New York 11 It is just a pity that I cannot tell This tale of fresh salvation That I alone saved mankind today So when my grandma sees my bucket With my trophy My captive My evidence of valor She does not glow of gratitude and pride But only speaks to say That this animal, this brute Should be returned to the pier immediately After she has tended to my wounds

And given me four plasters on my foot 12 And that she thinks it foolish For a seven year old that is so smart That I do not understand That the Beast will die Within the confines of this bucket 13 And most of all I do regret That I cannot tell her the plain truth sometimes victims are unavoidable Some violence is necessary and heroism is required In the cosmic battle For survival 14 So the world was saved and all its farms But humanity does not know The hero nor his grandma Just his poetry when he looks back On the days his dreams surpassed reality 15 Yet do not adults dream the fairy tale again? And keep on dreaming this illustrious tale Of enemies to overcome And monsters to be slain? (c) 2008 R.A. Veen