This Is the Only Way to Know

This is the only way to know
The world, your next-door neighbor in Ghent,
This is the only way to know
The fiery mountain beyond presentiment.

Keep an eye on the red anemones
And you will see how beautiful
The grasses are, bending in
The wind, that show the scarlet, full

Field. The red anemone 
Will never disappear in the grass,
The soul will never melt into
The arms or legs, into mass

Or into energy, the lighthouse
Is not the shore. The heart is in
The torso, it keeps it alive. More
Than that, it is silence beyond din,

It is the trace of light. In Ghent,
The people shut their blinds, they grumble
At the dawn. One day, their eyelids
Will burn, and their houses will crumble.