Saint Servatius Bridge over the Meuse River in Maastricht (Netherlands)

 

"On the banks of the Meuse is where I can recover. I can't do it on the Rhine, forget about the Waal. Only on the Meuse, here along the Meuse."

Dutch poet Ton Engels

Photomontage with a bridge over a canal in Amsterdam (Netherlands)

“The word “whale” was almost always synonymous with monster and interchangeable with giant."

Mark Leiren-Young

John Frost Bridge over the Rhine River in Arnhem, Gelderland (Netherlands)

This is the bridge for which John D. Frost fought leading the soldiers persistent and brave in an advance where freddom was sought went a bridge too far which they tried to save the bridge is now with his name proudly wrought

Memorial Plaque in John Frost Bridge

Bridge over the Herengracht canal in Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Amsterdam Nights, opiate dreams
I lay my head on your lap
In the backseat of the car, of the car
We’re lovers in the parking lot, hmm
So puff puff, red eye, blazing right?
We inhale the nights, truth and
Exhale the smoke of love, of love
So we gonna drive, gonna drive
Gonna drive into the night
Midnight sky, you and I...

Lyrics of Amsterdam Nights

Ray Lozano

Gravestenenbrug over the Spaarne River in Haarlem (Netherlands)

Wie boogt met zulk een' drang van reden

Op Haarlems dapper krygsbeleid?
Wie roemt myn braave Letterkloeken
En Schilders, wydberoemd van naam,
Alom op vleug'len van de Faam
Met lof gevoerd in 's waerelds hoeken?
Wie pryst op zulk een' zoeten trant
Myn schoonte en welgelegen stand?

Poem by Peter Langendijk

Bakkerbrug over the Oude Gracht (Old Canal) in Utrecht (Netherlands)

Ik ga jou vertellen dat het anders kan,
het is veel mooier dan Amsterdam
recht in het midden van ons kleine land,
daar zit je dicht bij goud!

I'm gonna tell you that it can be different,

it's much more beautiful than Amsterdam

right in the middle of our small country,

there you're close to gold!

Beginning of the song Utretcht
by Benr

Bridge crossing the Kloveniersburgwal canal in Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Got to get out of the state we're in,
I've been down since I don't know when,
Spending too long with my head in my hands,
Sitting and dreaming about Amsterdam;

Flying - Across the North Sea,
Flying - to Amsterdam,
The whole world is moving slowly,
Spread my arms right out across the land;

Amsterdam lyrics by Richard Clapton

Koningshavenbrug (De Hef) spanning the Meuse River in Rotterdam (Netherlands)

"Rotterdam has confirmed it will dismantle a historic bridge to allow a superyacht built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to fit through. The record-breaking luxury yacht is being built by Dutch firm Oceanco and was linked to Mr Bezos last year. The vessel is reported to be 417ft (127m) long and too tall to fit through the Koningshaven Bridge."

BBC News, 3 February 2022

John F. Kennedy Bridge over the Meuse River in Maastricht (Netherlands)

The sky was clear, the morn was gay
In promise of a cloudless day.
Fresh flew the breeze, with whose light wing
Aspen and oak were quivering:
From flow’ret dank it dashed the dew,—
The harebell bent its blossom blue,—
And from the Meuse the mist-wreaths grey
That morning breeze had swept away, 

Showing such scenes as well might seem
The fairy vision of a dream.
For changing still, and still as fair
Rock, wave, and wood were mingled there;
Peak over peak, fantastic ever,
The lofty crags deep chasms sever:

Poem by John Ruskin

Saint Servatius Bridge across the Meuse River in Maastricht, Limburg (Netherlands)

Waar in 't bronsgroen eikenhout, 't nachtegaaltje zingt,
Over 't malse korenveld, 't lied des leeuweriks klinkt,
Waar de hoorn des herders schalt, langs der beekjes boord:
Daar is mijn vaderland, Limburgs dierbaar oord!

Where the little nightingale sings in the bronze green oak forest,

the lay of the lark sounds over the tender cornfield,

Where the shepherd's horn echoes, along the bank of the little stream:

There is my fatherland, Limburg's dear place!

Lyrics from Limburg mijn Vaderland

Maria Theresa Bridge (or Stone Bridge) across the Meuse River in Roermond (Netherlands)

 

"If I could wish for immortality on earth, it would only be for the power of relieving the distressed."

Maria Theresa of Austria

Willemsbrug over the Meuse River in Rotterdam (Netherlands)

Ik ben een beetje zeeman en een beetje landrot
Ik ben een beetje klerk, een beetje lichtmatroos
Als ik aan de haven sta en kijk naar al die schepen
Dan, Rotterdam, ben ik op jouw altijd weer groos
...
I'm a bit of a sailor and a bit of a landlubber I'm a bit of a clerk, a bit of an ordinary sailor When I stand at the harbor and look at all those ships Then, Rotterdam, I am always happy for you

...

Extracted from Ben Je In Rotterdam geboren

song by Gerard Cox

Bridge of the Eastern Gate over a canal in Delft (Netherlands)

If light falls here, it's under a sky

of lead, false glow, late in the day.
Wish I could take the city, set myself up
in the stone circle in the marketplace, and drink
the blooded shadow of town hall
Get your head examined. I pound on the walls;
they go up in dust like ash in a stove in the morning,
as if I exist. Out of the canals rises
a wall of caustic water. Here's where it was,
here's where I sighed for the open polder and fell against
an icy structure. Here's where you trade the trip
for the tight home corner.

Poem by Anna Enquist about Delft

Torensluis Bridge crossing the Singel canal in Amsterdam (Netherlands)

 

"There is only one evil, one crime, one sin: lack of heart."

Dutch poet Multatuli

Bridge of Katerveerluize over the Willemsvaart canal in Zwolle (Netherlands)

Every weekend we go via Harderwijk with the NS in the direction of Zwolle
And then we cross the IJssel after the Treisberg near Oldeneel

From there we see it, the Peperbus, those beautiful late Gothic spheres

There he is Zwolle and my heart starts to cheer in my thick throat from The Hague

Lyrics from Zwolle Zonder Dolle

Van Kooten & De Bie

Pelserbrug over the canal Thorbeckegracht in Zwolle (Netherlands)

Toen naderde de trein de brug, en uit
een halve droom schoot ik ten halve wakker;
wat laatste druppels waaiden van de ruit.

Then the train approached the bridge, 

and went out

I half woke a half dream;

some last drops were blowing from the window.

Koos Geerds, poet from Zwolle

Hefbrug over the river Gouwe in Waddinxveen (Netherlands)

Early in the morning he wanders through the city.

The silence is unnerving, and quickly the street

raises empty eyes to the face

of an old twilight on the other side,

a vacant expression, as if seen in a mirror.

He follows the canal,

dead water still sleeping in the bronze bed

between the wharves. No sun beleaguers

the secret of fish in the moldy darkness

under the bridge hung with honesty.

The trees are silent, leaves hold their breath,

restrain the lisping story that shines through,

that would endlessly repeat itself

and fears the incursion of the dawn.

Poem by dutch poet Hendrik Marsman

Bridge in Waddinxveen (Netherlands)

Each night past midnight I shuffle
with lost echoless steps
veering backwards across the slanting sky
on the treads of an abandoned spiral staircase
in bewildered space. 

Hendrik Marsman

Koningshavenbrug (Royal Port Bridge) over the Meuse River in Rotterdam (Netherlands)

The great white boat at the end of the harbour,
the boat which like a second and lesser sun
reflects the first light of day every morning,
the boat I have dreamt will one day take me away,
I now see is firmly tied to shore with hefty chains.
It is not now, nor any time soon, sailing anywhere.
It has long returned from what was its final journey,
forever to sit here, to entertain children and tourists.
I walked to it this morning for a closer look.
Thought I saw it tugging at its thick ropes,
Thought I heard a groan from its propellers.
I looked. Listened.
Alas, no. / I was wrong. / It was me.

SS Rotterdam

Poem by Roni Maergulies

Footbridge over a canal in Amsterdam (Netherlands)

“The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.”

Iris Murdoch,