Het dorp

At home, I still have a postcard
With a church, a cart with a horse
A butcher J. van der Ven
A pub, a lady on a bike
It probably means nothing to you
But it's where I was born
This town, I still remember how it was
The farmer's children in class
A cart rattling on the cobblestones
The town hall with a pump in front
A dirt road through the fields of grain
The livestock, the farms

And along my father's garden path
I saw the tall trees standing
I was a child and didn't know any better
Than that it would never end

How simply they lived back then
In simple houses among the greenery
With farm flowers and a hedge
But apparently they lived wrong
The village has been modernized
And now they are on the right path
Because look, how rich life is
They watch the TV quiz shows
And live in concrete boxes
With plenty of glass, then you can see
How the sofa looks at Mien's
And her sideboard with plastic roses

And along my father's garden path
I saw the tall trees standing
I was a child and didn't know any better
Than that it would never end

The village youth stick together
In miniskirts and Beatle hair
And sing along with beat music
I know it's their right
The new era, just as you say
But it makes me somewhat melancholic
I knew their fathers
They bought licorice for a penny
I saw their mothers jump rope
That village of the past, it's gone
This is all that's left for me
A postcard and memories

When I walked along my father's garden path
And still saw the tall trees standing
I was a child, how could I know
That it would be gone forever