Old childhood dreams, bestsellers of the past Are now exhibited on Saturday And share the marketplace with bums. You cast A saddened look on them and their array. (The greatest storyteller, long dead, took To drink in small cafés, obnoxious For years on end that followed his last book, Notorious and yet anonymous.) Young readers are now middle-aged. They sell The long-lost remnants of a chilldhood room When time and age turned attics into Hell And deadlines mar the silence of the tomb. You glanced into a copy; then we read: "For your 12th birthday." And we shook our head.

* Dutch author, good for 5 million copies in total - so far. Due to a conflict with his publisher he ceased writing in 1963. He died in 1985. Old hardcover editions (1950-1963) are cherished items. Of late his catchy, humorous style is acclaimed by "serious" authors, and a "Society" of old and new enthusiasts does "research".   © 2001 Dutch Crispin