What terrified me most was not the grand scale of you
In fact I stood in awe of you
But you blew me away, you let the winds of the oceans nearly carry me away
Oh Erasmus bridge I wish it wasn’t true
Now I’m not sure to cross you
Unaware of what was to come
I stared blindly at your elegant form
Structurally confusing, you’re not the norm
The imbalance of your struts/ties makes me question how tensed you are
Were you in equilibrium or was there an unknown pull on one side
I’m really asking how do you stand
Nonetheless you caught my eye, so I couldn’t just pass you by
I never knew this about you before
But you’re 802 metres long and 139 high
I could have travelled the shard more than twice and still hadn’t reached your length
I suppose you had to be twice that size to connect the rather huge divide
Between the north and south side
But why didn’t Van Berkel, your creator consider
That spans as long as yours, wouldn’t be kind to little tourists, mere passer by
Making a journey on the winds side
Frankly, you left us utterly exposed
Our clothes blew, our hair flews and some couldn’t even move
You let the sea throw its best gales our way and guess what?
You won. You stole the day,
It started so peacefully as your path led the way, blissfully unaware we stormed ahead
Until that moment the very ground on which I stood,
You shook, you moved
As before I was never sure of your structural capability, now honestly I fear
You’re not as stable as your cables appear
I trusted you to carry me, can you carry the self-weight of you?
That deflected shape must not have looked pleasant
If the internal forces I was feeling from inside were relevant
Did you know it was possible? That the winds of your very Rotterdam were fiery
Potentially dangerous? I doubt you do, because something about you
Your sheer construction, history and fame pronounce you never knew
I apologise for my attack of you, first time experiences are never as easy as it seems
I judged you before I knew you,
I won’t lie I’ll definitely never cross you a second time, but you’re worth the thought
Oh swan, remain elegant graceful and architecturally beautiful
By Oluwaseyi Sobogun, Stage 2
