In Holland culture
always was low
above the weak soil

Barring and collecting water
living alternately

on land and in sea

raising mounds, digging
islands, building pile-ware-
and-dwelling-houses

Living and letting
live for the high art
of trade

There is as much
as you can count
with borrowed money

shops smelling
of distant shores
where we don't arrive

with soldiers, but
with nice stories
and heavy purses