05.12.24 – 15.12.24, #167 Frederique Kraus, Pastorale: nee, nooit sta ik een seconde stil

A pastorale is the glorification of rural life by the city dweller, for whom it remains unfamiliar. Fields of ease, the countryside offers space for harmonious existence. Pure romanticism. Part of the pastorale is the shepherd’s song. The shepherd moves fluidly and softly through the vast expanse of nature. Just as I travel by train, between Breda and Antwerp. My sky, blue, behold my modern shepherd’s song through the no-man’s-land of concrete and grass. A reciprocal journey, guided by tunnels and views that tell me almost nothing. I love you, so deeply. Insignificant Netherlands or Belgium, perhaps nothing at all. My fire, my love, burrows itself into the earth. A journey that gives space, a journey where no time must be lost. Rushing through this flat landscape, 34 minutes, nothing is ever just 34 minutes. Nothingness becomes creation. No time wasted. No, not a second do I stand still.

(With lyrics from ''Pastorale'' by Liesbet List and Ramses Shaffy. Written by Boudewijn de Groot and Lennaert Nijgh.)