During the commemoration on May 4, a poem is recited every year in Den Helder that invites us to pause. Not only for the past, but also for what that past still demands of us today. In this poem, the city poet explores how history returns, how easily we look away, and how much courage it takes not to become indifferent.
We are not angry enough.
We talk about the past as if it is over,
as if history is a line
and we somewhere at the end
have ended up. The Netherlands is free
and we never have to be afraid again.
History is not a line
and we are not angry enough.
The past circles. Turns around its axis,
What once was will always be somewhere.
It does not disappear with the passing of time
of time, it circles wider and wider
to eventually return.
But we don't learn
and we are not angry enough.
In the past, it raged like a wild man through cities.
which differ little from these
and the world is watching, but does not intervene.
And if the people then become adrift,
flees, asks for help,
a crowd is standing ready here
with a flag and a song that says no.
The connection is not made.
We are not angry enough
about the double standards, same story,
the repetition of moves, the lack of resistance
against pointing the finger at the Other
as the blame for everything that goes wrong.
And we let it happen, because the Netherlands is free.
and we never have to be afraid again.
We are not angry enough.
And it takes courage to be angry,
a bark full of love and unwavering hope
to straighten the course of things. Noisy
to be from the softest part of your diaphragm,
to be radically gentle and human.
A line can be drawn, the resistance
to extend of a circle in time
and to hold them together.
Â
Yanaika SummerÂ
City Poet
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