Once on the Coupure, Ghent

Once, along the Coupure canal in Ghent, a woman in a starry veil leads masked children home on a red thread.
Pencil, watercolour and collage on paper, 62,5 × 48 cm, 2026.

“Nievie, nievie, nicknack,
Which hand will ye tak’?
Tak’ the right, or tak’ the wrang,
I’ll beguile ye, if I can.”
Trees! Mieke! Lieve! Jef! —
Keep from the dark water. The kelpie is out tonight.