Few Poems by Germain Droogenbroodt

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE


Rivers overflow their banks
houses are demolished
cars swept away
by the raging waters:
man has disrupted nature.

In vain
wisdom’s warning words.

Would a chip, implanted in the brain,
offer more wisdom or even more blindness
and indoctrination?

***

WHAT WILL REMAIN

Everything that ever lived

is sooner or later erased by time.

What remains

is the beauty on earth
which man created before:
beautiful constructions, sculptures,

words and music.

But what will remain of us

—for those who come after us—

as a trace?

What else

but tasteless constructions,

pollution of water and air,
the greed of the present.

Petrified

At the town square
stands the statue
of a war hero.

He looks ahead
as if he looks to the future
as if he looks for a time without wars
a time of worldwide peace

—but his eyes are petrified.

***

A few haiku

Unconcerned rosy

announcing upcoming spring

apricot blossoms

***

Their wings opened
heavenward hankering
birds of paradise

***

Its roots in the mud

blooms whiter than the whitest white

the lotus flower.

***

The power of water
 imperturbably following
its very own road

***
A morning fisher
at the motionless water surface
wavers red the hope

from “Dewdrops”, 100 haiku by Germain Droogenbroodt,
published Japanese, English, Spanish, Dutch by JUNPA, Kyoto, Japan

Germain Droogenbroodt is an internationally acclaimed Belgian poet, translator, and publisher. Founder of POINT Editions and the ITHACA Foundation (Spain), he has published 17 poetry collections in over 30 countries. His work, inspired by Eastern philosophy, has been translated into 40+ languages and praised for its meditative depth. He created the “Poetry Without Borders” initiative and has received over two dozen international awards. His poetry has inspired artists and composers worldwide, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017.