Nearly as many years ago as my age,
the Germans razed this city to the ground.
Not that there’d have been much resistence,
but the Nazis were in something of a rush.
 
Today is the fifth of May.
As I emerge for my morning walk,
I see streets festooned with flags.
It is, it seems, the anniversary
of the the end of the war for the Dutch.
Strange coincidence! Today is also
the day, long ago, I was born.
 
As Holland withdrew,
one would think, I
was sent to the front.