City poet pays tribute to the 250,000 volunteers

City poet Gershwin Bonevacia has created this poem commissioned by Vrijwilligers Centrale Amsterdam for all volunteers in Amsterdam, in honor of National Volunteer Day 2020.

BECAUSE WE GIVE TO EACH OTHER

You are not competition, not a passage, but the time in which we live –
a shell, a journey towards more, a surrender,
you are the thread we can follow back if we have remained stuck,
if we no longer dare to rise, if we have slowly grown vulnerable,

You are not a moment, but the feeling that resembles looking at an empty spot in the sky
and somehow knowing that light will shine there someday, the feeling that resembles closing your eyes
but not being afraid to fall, instead feeling everything in you rise,
you are not an image, but a landscape arranged with flowers to the rhythm of the people.

This is an ode to all volunteers, those who leave traces of their existence with love.
It’s about being all-encompassing in a subtle way, whether for a short period or long term.
Amsterdam is a museum, the city is not made of stone, but a body, an infinite exhibition.
Perhaps that is our task, to start building a great temple,
but never manage to complete it.

Take your time, be the leaves, a student, a mother, a conversation,
be an elderly northerner or a bicultural transgender person,
carry all special events in your heart,
be a sea that is not made of fixed waves or the position of the moon,
but from the necessity that you want to leave something behind for the city, that we leave something behind for each other.

Gershwin Bonevacia
City Poet of Amsterdam7 December 2020 – National Volunteer Day – Volunteer Center Amsterdam

Do you want to surprise one or more volunteers with a nice card? You can.Send one of our five thank you cards here.