I'm Brahman

I'm Brahman. In the house we have no maid.
At home I do the only thing I can:
I throw away my bath water and fill the jug;
I take no towel; and I always spill.


She tells me these are no a husband's chores.
I do feel helpless and reproach myself
When she is spoiling my impracticability
-- ingrained -- with the magic of her cookery.


And ever do I worship Him who manifests
himself as a magic show of cosmos, art and
science:


When she is handing me my plate of
porridge,
-- I notice how her fingertips are chapped --


I'm burning with a single adoration for
Sun, Bach, Kant; and those calloused hands
of hers.




Johan Andreas Der Mouw (1863-1919)
translated from Dutch by Victor van Bijlert