Henri Frans de Ziel


Trefossa, pen name of Henri Frans de Ziel, was a neoromantic writer in Dutch and Sranan Tongo from Suriname. He is best known for the Sranan Tongo stanzas of Suriname's National Anthem.

Biography

He was an educator and lived in the Netherlands from 1953 to 1956. Upon his return to Suriname he was part of the editorial staff of the magazines Tongoni and Soela. He also served briefly as the director-librarian of Suriname's Cultural Centre. He subsequently returned to the Netherlands to work on the publication of Johannes King's memoirs.
Trefossa wrote primarily about the beauty of his native country, Suriname, especially as a source of peace to the restless mind.
He influenced many writers in Suriname, including Corly Verlooghen, Eugène Rellum, Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout and Michaël Slory, but the depth and subtlety of his verse remain almost unique.
Trefossa was annoyed about the negative nuance in the National Anthem at time, and started to transform the second stanza into a positive message. Trefossa combined this with a poem he wrote in Sranan Tongo on the death of Ronald Elwin Kappel. His anthem was unanimously approved by the Government of Suriname on 7 December 1959.
In 1969, his health started to deteriorate, and he was admitted to the sanatorium Zonnedaal in Bloemendaal. Here he met his wife, Hulda Walser, whom he married in 1970. On 3 Februari 1975, de Ziel died in Haarlem.
On 21 November 2005, a monument was dedicated in his honour on the Sophie Redmondstraat in Paramaribo. His ashes and the ashes of his wife, Hulda Walser, were also placed at the monument.

Poem

The poem by Trefossa, referenced in the external link about the mural at the bottom, is translated from Sranan into English below:
GronmamaEarthmother
Mi a no mi
solanga mi brudu

fu yu a n'e trubu

na ini den dusun titei fu mi
I am not myself
until my blood

is infused with you

in all of my veins
Mi a no mi
solang mi lutu

n'e saka, n'e sutu

mi gronmama
I am not myself
until my roots

sink down, shoot

into you, my earthmother
Mi a no mi
solang m'no krari

fu kibri, fu tyari

yu gersi na ini mi dyodyo.
I am not myself
until I manage

to keep, to carry

your image in my soul
Mi a no mi
solanga y' n'e bari

f' prisir' ofu pen

na ini mi sten.
I am not myself
until you cry out

with pleasure, or pain

in my voice