Joy On The Langeraar Lakes

Poetry Piątek #15

Oh, lakes of
Langeraar, how we have
enjoyed your proximity: by boat,
by bike. Walking. Running.
We'll miss you.

The Langeraar Lakes are among the many lakes in the Green Heart of The Netherlands. They were created when peat was harvested from the area, and thank their name from the village of Langeraar. Ever since we moved here, we have enjoyed these lakes in many ways, as you can read in the poem. As we have enjoyed the rest of this region, the Green Heart of The Netherlands, which is a centrally located rural area, characterised by the green of nature and agricultural land, and the blue of water, dotted by towns and villages. And hamlets. Close to the maelstrom of the Randstad metropolitan area, but with none of the hustle and bustle. Living here has been wonderful and we learned a lot about the vibrancy of the loosely connected communities that together make up a healthily beating Green Heart.

But, as we say in Dutch: "er is een tijd van komen, en er is een tijd van gaan", there's a time for arriving, and there's a time for leaving. Roughly four years ago we arrived here, now, for us, the time for leaving has arrived.

So, we are, already for a couple of weeks, completely immersed in the preparations for our leaving. We will be moving to a town that is part of a metropolitan area with one of the most revered cities in the world at its centre. A city in which we have lived before, and that immediately felt like home. Four years ago, we moved back to the country we were both born in. For many, that would be like moving back home. In a way, it was. And is. Now we are moving to another country again, and again it feels like moving back home.

What does 'home' mean to you?

---

Incubating empathy goes even better with coffee. You can power up the poetry: