The village

At home I still have a postcard
Which shows a church a cart with a horse
A butcher’s shop J. van der Ven
A pub, a lady on a bicycle
It probably does not mean anything to you
But it is where I was born
This village, I still remember how it was
The farmer’s children in the classroom
A cart rattling on the cobblestones
The town hall with a pump in front of it
A dirt road between corn
The cattle, the farms

refr.:
And along my father’s garden path
I saw the tall trees standing
I was a child and knew no better
Than that ‘t would never pass

How simple they lived back then
In simp’le houses among greenery
With peasant flowers and a hedge
But apparently they were living the wrong way
The village has been modernized
And now they are on the right track
For behold, how rich life is
They see the television quiz
And live in concrete boxes
With lots of glass, so you can see
How the sofa is at Mien
And her dresser with plastic roses

The village youths clump together
In miniskirts and beatle hair
And howl along with beat music
I know it’s their right
The new era, just as you say
But it makes me a little melancholy
I remembered their fathers
They bought liquorice for a penny
I saw their mothers skipping rope
That village of yore, it’s gone
This is all that remains for me
A postcard and memories

When I saw along my father’s garden path
The tall trees still standing
I was a child, how could I know
That that would pass forever