Ode to Marten Toonder – the Bumble thing

I went to Castle Bommelstein to see Lord Bumble

He wasn’t there…

But his butler James was, busy at the kitchen

stove preparing a potage a la conserve

a saucisse choucroute and/or a jambon al Ratafla

at any rate a simple but nutritious meal

Lord Bumble himself had gone to Rommeldam in his Old Bolt

To see the monument dedicated to him

and to Marten Toonder, his spiritual father

But Rommeldam is now called… Rotterdam

The city looked very different  

And the monument also baffled him

There was indeed a statue of Mayor Dickerdack

that smug father of all the citizens

And Professor Sickbock who had so

often tormented him, Lord Bumble, with is tests, was there too

(The Milgram experiment is nothing by comparison…!)

And Marquis de Chanticleer, Querulin Xaverius…

that puffed up cockerel who thought that he was a poet

And Terpen Tine…

And perched right at the top of the pylon 

was his young friend Tom Puss

Where was he himself?

The globe of the world was wearing

the bright yellow colour of his gentleman’s coat 

And the red lines on that garment now

served worldwide as the meridians

But where was he himself…such a Grand Gentleman?

Just then he heard a voice, the deep

Voice of his creator Marten Toonder

Ollie B. Bumble, you are everywhere here

For you are in the hearts of all Rotterdammers!

Manuel Kneepkens