Reflections on Amsterdam (Anne Frank House)

 Reflections on Amsterdam (Anne Frank House)

 

It’s not enough to stand on the bridge

And look down into the canal,

You want to jump over the side and swim in the water,

Brown but clean, reflecting the sad beauty of old buildings.

 

It’s not enough to bend your head back and look up at the tower,

You want to climb to the top of it,

Hands grabbing the rough stones to pull yourself up one foot at a time

Until you stand at the summit,

Looking out over canals like the veins in your arms

Running out to the sea.

 

It’s not enough to enter the church

And gaze at the paintings, the stained-glass windows,

The organ and the nave,

All done in crazy rich splendor,

You want to preach in the church,

Stand in the pulpit, raise your arms and shout

Until every head turns your way,

Every ear is filled with the sound of your voice.

 

It’s not enough to enter the house at Westermarkt 20,

The Anne Frank House, where she lived with others in secret,

Hiding in vain from imponderable evil,

Not enough to enter the house and walk up the stairs,

Duck your head to pass through the doorway

Without hitting your forehead on the lintel.

You want to hit your forehead on the lintel,

You want to hit it again and again

Until blood runs into your eyes,

Climb the stairs they won’t let you climb,

Blocked off with glass,

Step out the window Anne looked through, night after night,

At the chestnut tree and the stars in the sky,

Stand on the roof,

Shout until every head turns your way,

Every ear in the street is filled with your voice,

Every pair of eyes with the blood on your face,

Shout until you are hoarse and can say nothing more,

Then leap high and far enough to reach the canal below,

Fly down to it like an eagle

But not land on the water, plunge into it,

Break through the surface,

The reflections of old buildings,

Sink deep into what lies hidden below,

Water as dark as the history that surrounds you,

And come up, eventually, clean, the wound on your forehead healed,

To find that no one is watching for you

And the house across the street has vanished,

Was in fact never there,

And everything has finally, truly, unalterably changed.

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