The Walk

Sieth Delhaas

Vertaling Greg Suffanti

I immediately began to speak
she neither looked up nor back
Had I tuned into her rhythm
or she to mine?

The forest breathed its autumnal breath
and not a leaf moved
and there was not another soul around
to witness this wondrous pair.

Then… she lightly turns her muzzle right
the rest of her body following quietly in strides.

And me?

I talked to no one in particular for a while longer
and went straight on
until she was gone
out of sight…
Only then my speaking ceased
and my slow sigh
lasted longer than it pleased.

It was true what
I’d read in the newspaper.

The poem is about a wolf in Rheden. I had just read: when encountering a wolf you should just continue to walk and start talking out loud. Not to the wolf, just to the space around you.