An evening in Schiedam about the poet Piet Paaltjens.

Here's his famous poem For Rika in translation by Jacob Lowland.

"I only saw you that one time. You sat

In an express train racing like a thief

At top speed past the way train I had caught.

No first encounter ever was more brief.

And yet it lasted long enough for me

To walk on down life's endless path with rue

Ringing my lips. How could there ever be

Cause more for me to smile, now I'd seen you?

And then, why have to have that flaxen hair,

That is the mark of angels? And besides,

Why those blue eyes, so wondrous deep and clear?

You knew that's something I cannot abide!

And why go hurtling past in such a rush

And not, like lightning, lift the carriage out

And throw your arms about my neck, and push

Your lips like mucilage against my mouth?

You feared a rail disaster possibly?

But Rika, what could be more glorious than,

Amid infernal thuds and screams, to be

Crushed two together by one selfsame train?"

Romantic love doesn't need to be much more, crushed together by one selfsame train.