Tijd aan onze kant | Robert Grijsen

Tijd aan onze kant

Lang geleden of gisteren
was er nog tijd genoeg
en konden wij alles maken

speelden wij onvermoeibaar
tussen doeken, in het licht
met wisselende maskers

lachten wij, bedachten wij
de bogen over het water
de pijlen in de roos

zaten wij achter het huis
de lucht gevuld met wijsheid
kinderstemmen die vervaagden

gisteren of lang geleden
dansten tientallen muggen
op onze toekomstmuziek.

Robert Grijsen
Robert Grijsen (64) is a poet, dramatist, drama teacher, and performer. Not always in that order. He directed dozens of plays, translated or adapted theater scenarios, and wrote the libretto for several music pieces. He has published seven volumes of poems of which the most recent is an adaptation in 18 poems of the classic ‘Westside story’. He regularly reads from his own work with the often musical accompaniment of a musician or ensemble. He is also often asked to act as the narrator in musical performances. He has been teaching for a long time and lots of aspiring actors have been inspired and transformed under his supervision into professional theater performers. At the moment he works for Globe, the center of arts and culture. And since 2019 he gives poetry courses in Bibliotheek Hilversum.

In January 2016 Robert Grijsen became the first city poet of Hilversum. For two years he used the city as his source of inspiration and wrote poems for special occasions like the unveiling of the MH17 monument, the Dudok concert, the meeting for newcomers, and the 225-year jubilee of Hilversum’s oldest cemetery: Gedenkt te sterven. The poem for this last celebration was immortalized with a plaquette at the entrance of the cemetery. He was also active on Twitter with a weekly poetic tweet:  a short poem related to the actual news. All the city poems and a choice of his tweets are brought together in a book called ‘Neem me niet voor lief’ (don’t take me for granted).

Tijd aan onze kant / Time on our side
In the summer of 2017 the first wall painting in Hilversum was painted: ‘Time on our side’ from the volume of Robert Grijsen 'Gisteren of lang geleden’. The big grey letters on the green wall of the market square catch the eye of many passing. A lot of citizens can identify with the short and powerful lines about impermanence, about memories of moments of freedom and expectation. The poem has also been made into a film in which several people of Hilversum took care of one line.

‘Tijd aan onze kant’ was the start of a trend. In the past years, we’ve seen more and more poetry in public space.