Westerkerk Carillon
︎︎︎ Leon Ray-Fernandes
︎ Aug 8, 2026
When talk faltered—just then,
out of the narrow air, closed
on the street like a box-top,
broadened, bells, lifted
of a sudden, across
rooftops, straining the ear
by gentleness; hard to hear
over talk resumed.
By further surprise,
I recognised the tune
aman aman (the city was surprised too)
the bells in Amsterdam
toll a muwaššah:
Lamma Bada Yatathanna.
When she began to sway
she seemed to bend
like a branch in the breeze,
bending, swayed.
Something captured me
when she began.
Who hears me beg?
These next six month
or sixty year?
No one can answer this,
except the Quene of Beauty
aman aman aman aman
aman
Which can be rendered either
yearning or surrender,
Do not hide your face from me,
Or ‘peace,’ ‘mercy,’
‘shelter.’
for a spell,
then ended.
And it was winter
in a city by the IJmeer,
when she began to sway,
my talk faltered.
out of the narrow air, closed
on the street like a box-top,
broadened, bells, lifted
of a sudden, across
rooftops, straining the ear
by gentleness; hard to hear
over talk resumed.
By further surprise,
I recognised the tune
aman aman (the city was surprised too)
the bells in Amsterdam
toll a muwaššah:
Lamma Bada Yatathanna.
When she began to sway
she seemed to bend
like a branch in the breeze,
bending, swayed.
Something captured me
when she began.
Who hears me beg?
These next six month
or sixty year?
No one can answer this,
except the Quene of Beauty
aman aman aman aman
aman
Which can be rendered either
yearning or surrender,
Do not hide your face from me,
Or ‘peace,’ ‘mercy,’
‘shelter.’
for a spell,
then ended.
And it was winter
in a city by the IJmeer,
when she began to sway,
my talk faltered.