[leave nimmen wit hoe't wy yn eardere libbens...] (fy)

leave nimmen wit hoe't wy yn eardere libbens
inoar foarby ronnen of de bus misten dêr't ien
fan ús beiden yn siet of do myn suster ús mem
yn wiest en it tusken ús neat wurde mocht om't
 
der te folle jierren of in leauwe tusken ús
dreaun sa plastysk as in kontinint sil de ôfstân
wol ris west ha ik wie miskien drok dwaande mei
it útfinen fan fjoer wylst do en dyn frijer
 
oare kant de oseaan de kearsen oanstutsen
hâld ik dy al wer te stiif fêst ik wol dy net
fynknipe mar ik bin bang en bliid tagelyk dat
 
der noait mear tusken ús wêze sil as dit hielal
dêr't wy net by inoar yn komme kinne omdat
it te lyts is foar it fertriet fan twa dy't ien wurde
 
leave lit tiid ús fan inoar ôf skuorre at wy ien foar ien
deageane wy slaan werom mei brêgen fan wurden

© T.B. / Bornmeer
Extrait de: De wizers yn it read
Leeuwarden: Bornmeer, 2000
Production audio: NLPVF, 2005

[my love nobody knows how in earlier lives]

my love nobody knows how in earlier lives
we passed each other by in the street or just missed the bus
in which one of us sat or in which you were my sister my mother
and we weren't meant to meet because

of differences in age or beliefs maybe the space
between us was as concrete as a continent once
perhaps I was busy discovering ways
of starting a fire while you and your lover

were lighting candles on the other side of the ocean
am I holding you too tightly I'm sorry I don't want to crush
you but am happy and sad at the same time

that there will never be more between us
than this universe in which we cannot come together
because it is too small for the grief of two becoming one

my love let time prise us apart when one by one we die
in this life we'll retaliate with bridges of words

Translation by the author with the kind help of John Irons