The Flemish immigrants who came to the U.S. in its largest wave - from 1890 to 1930 - were predominantly Catholic and West Flemish. One of the formative figures at that time was the West Flemish priest, poet, and Flemish rights activist, Guido Gezelle (1830-1899). With simple yet catchy ditties, this parish priest articulated common sense, religious faith, and the rights of the oppressed Flemish majority.
The below poem can be found in L.J. Veen's Gelegenheidsgedichten (Amsterdam, 1925), pp.104-105. The very loose translation is mine. It is intentionally structured to capture the cadence of Gezelle's meaning. Given as it was exactly 20 years prior to the day of the first edition of the Gazette van Detroit on August 13th, 1914, its importance to the history of the Flemish in America cannot be overstated.
Voor eene Vlaamsche liefdadigheudskermis in de
Vlaamsch-Hollandsche Parochie van Detroit, Michigan, in Noord-Amerika. Aug 13, 1894
Gebroeders, verre in ‘t
westen weg,
Gedoogt dat ik goendag
ik zeg
Die ben gebleven
Gezond in ‘t oude land
in ‘t vrije leven.
Ik dicht nog altemets
entwat,
In onze tale, op dit en
dat;
En kwam van dage
Te lezen onverwacht uw’
verzenvrage.
Zoo haast heb ik de pen
gepakt,
Met int heur’ stalen bek
gewakt;
Ik zit al neere
En schrijve u, eerst van
al: ‘t is zomersch were.
De Zonne in ‘t oosten,
wit
En wolkenloos, te
blinken zit,
Laat onze boeren
Hun versch gemaaide hooi
met vorken roeren.
Bij u is ‘t nacht: gij
slaapt wellicht,
Of wandelt onder ‘t
serrelicht:
Terwijl ik wake
En welgezind een
vlaamsch gedichtje u make.
God vordere u
gebroeders! Sterk
En klock begost aan ‘t
kerkewerk:
‘t en zal niet baten
Zoo lang gij ‘t onbegost
zuit liggen laten.
Die wel beginnt heft half
gedaan,
Dat vinde ik in de
boeken staan
Van alle streken,
Daar wijze lien gezonde
waarheid spreken.
Dus opgepast, en, doet
eikeen
Zijn duwken, zij dat
groot of kleen,
Na korte tijden
Zoo zuit ge u dankbaar
zien een kerke wijden.
Nu weg van hier, naar ‘t
verre land,
Mijn dichtje; en, aan
den overkant
Van ‘t breede water,
Eerbiedig groet ons volk
en zegt: tot later.
A Poetic Greeting From
the Old Country
For a Flemish fundraiser for the Flemish-Dutch parish at Detroit,
Michigan in North America, August 13, 1894.
Brothers, far away in
the west,
Permit me to send you my
very best
From one safe and sound
Back in the land you’ve
known.
I’ve put pen to paper from time to time,
To draft in our quaint tongue
a bit of rhyme;
So imagine my day’s
delight,
Your unexpected request
forthright.
Posthaste I grasp the pen
in grip,
And wet with ink its
steely tip.
To the desk I pulled my
chair near,
And begin with, first of
all: “Summer’s here”.
The eastern sun is
blazing bright,
Amidst cloudless skies, shining
blue-white.
Which gives our farmers
here a day,
To scythe and stack
fields of hay.
Where you live it’s now likely
night,
And there you doze or
walk by starlight:
While I for you with delight
compose
A Flemish poem, my words
in prose.
Godspeed my brothers!
Standfast!
Fear not as you do your
holy task!
For how can you all profit
by,
Unharvested fields if
they so lie?
“What’s well begun is
then half done”,
‘Tis a saying said by
everyone,
Whether by good priest
or bad crook,
‘Tis the same in every
town and in every book.
Thus come together one
and all,
Rich or poor, large and
small.
For then in a blink of
your eyes,
Before you will your
church arise.
Now fly from here to
that distant land,
My ditty, these words,
my comfort and.
Upon arrival please
salute and say:
To all our folk, we’ll
meet some day!
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