I join the seagulls
now and then. One suspects laws
in their movements through the great
cloudy skies, eternal laws
of another order. This noon,
Jopie and I stood together,
looking up at one of these
black-and-silver birds
flying among the massive,
deep-blue rain clouds
and felt less oppressed.
Etty Hillesum, August 1943
version by Martin Steingesser
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