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Poetry

	Gert Strydom
	PROFILE About me Friends (13) Poetry (1888) Prose (37) Photography (5)

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Gert Strydom, 26 september 2012

Impundulu

When in summer
stormy clouds gather
and chains of blue-white thunder
comes flaming down, sneaks nearer and neared
Impundulu is flying,
souring high into the air
with its blazing eyes looking everywhere

and something has disturbed its resting place,
in the giant tamboti tree
that roots in the cliffs,
into the very heart of the earth,
that branches into the clouds,
the place of the upper waters

and when the rain starts pouring
as if without end, the medicine man,
the witchdoctor, the Inyanga
puts secret herbs, magic spices
coming from the dark cliffs
in a cooking pot
that he applies to every doorpost
of the native village

believing that it has the ability
to keep the bird of thunder away
while it’s exploding voice is drawing closer,
small bolts frizzles, fire erupts where it gazes
and the power of its claws and beak
shatters even the hardest rocks

and in the village huts the children
are scared to even breathe,
their mothers and fathers pray
to the Almighty God,
to Unkulunkulu, the Big-Big One
to keep the bird of thunder away.

[Reference: “Impundulu” by A.G. Visser]

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Gert Strydom, 26 september 2012

Philomel

At times a nightingale or swallow
visited me
singing sweetly

and with all the reckoning
that I did posses,
I tried to catch the words of it

and sorrowful was that gentle ode
telling about lovely Philomel
who did disappear

and how once she was young and beautiful,
so full of life, until her brother in law Tereus,
did his dirty deed
and then silenced her with a knife

and in the visiting bird there was something,
something lovely and sweet
while at times it pecked insects at my feet
as if Philomel, was coming back to life in it.

[Reference: “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir Walter Raleigh.]

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Gert Strydom, 26 september 2012

The tikoloshe

The whole yard becomes full, becomes full of him,
without anyone noticing
while the shadows are drawing nearer

is in the bright day he already approaches full of danger,
when darkness comes to the earth
without anyone noticing

he unexpectedly enters a house,
and someone screams agitated
when darkness comes to the earth

and he comes and goes as he wants to
with eyes gleaming red and bloodthirsty
and someone screams agitated

where he enters the bed of an innocent girl,
when he sets out to kill
with eyes gleaming red and bloodthirsty

and still come and go unseen among people.
The whole yard becomes full, becomes full of him,
when he sets out to kill
while the shadows are drawing nearer.

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Gert Strydom, 25 september 2012

There is a kind of love (Persian / Rubiyat quatrain)

There is a kind of love and loving,
that is a very strange kind of thing
that even with separation and death
still keeps living and existing.

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Gert Strydom, 25 september 2012

It’s as if your breath whispers declarations of love

It’s as if your breath whispers declarations of love
and next me you lie naked and stretched out,
while you bring warmth to the cold darkness

and when I listen to your breathing
I notice your back, arm and slender neck.
It’s as if your breath whispers declarations of love

and my certainty about us, about you becomes a fact,
when your breathing continually covers me like kisses
while you bring warmth to the cold darkness

and at a time my life was shackled in,
when days moved quickly through the calendar.
It’s as if your breath whispers declarations of love

as if at times I listen to the secrets of the night
until the sun licks over the distant hillocks
while you bring warmth to the cold darkness

and although at times in life I loose my way
nothing can violate the love between us.
It’s as if your breath whispers declarations of love
while you bring warmth to the cold darkness.

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Gert Strydom, 25 september 2012

Continually our love surprises me

Continually our love does me surprise,
as sometimes you bring me pain
and sometimes you hold on to me

while sometimes it feels as if I am reaching into a whirlpool
but sometimes you take away everything bad.
Continually our love does me surprise,

and sometimes tears run over your cheeks
but sometimes it’s as if the sun shines through your eyes
and sometimes you hold on to me

while our love is much stronger than just a maybe,
and I am smitten by the look on your face.
Continually our love does me surprise,

as if new depths continually comes to it,
you become part of my awareness
and sometimes you hold on to me

and it’s as if we perfectly fit into each other’s lives
while continually you are part of me, of my existence;
continually our love does me surprise,
and sometimes you hold on to me.

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Gert Strydom, 25 september 2012

Since childhood the night scares you

Since childhood the night scares you
as if here in Africa dark things do sneak about
and when the stars appear you start to long

for tomorrows when the sun hangs bright in the blue sky
and it feels as if something almost touchable sneaks up on you.
Since childhood the night scares you

as if even the wind hisses at times like a deadly snake,
as if something dangerous is drinking water from the dog’s bowl
and when the stars appear you start to long

do want to replace your fears with my presence,
and you want to baste in the passion of our love.
Since childhood the night scares you

and it feels as if something evil wants to catch you
when you sometimes find shelter in the bath
and when the stars appear you start to long

while I dry the tears from your rosy cheek,
and hold on to you through the night.
Since childhood the night scares you
and when the stars appear you start to long.

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Gert Strydom, 21 september 2012

To you I am attached

To you I am attached
and our love is never only common,
it becomes something that never does lapse,
it expels the great longing

and sometimes its intensity scares me
when continually you look more beautiful.
To you I am attached
and our love is never only common,

it’s much deeper than any other yearning,
when you look at me with sunshine glances
you do look really glamorous
and to me you are of critical importance;
to you I am attached
and our love is never only common.

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Gert Strydom, 21 september 2012

How do I tell you?

How do I tell you again and again
about how true my love is,
when continually I miss you when you are gone?
Sometimes love brings healing to pain

and these feelings I cannot stop
when even in sorrow they are present.
How do I tell you again and again
about how true my love is,

about how much I constantly yearn for you,
that our love brings a sparkle to each day
and is far stronger than any hindrance,
that there is more to love than just an oath?
How do I tell you again and again
about how true my love is?

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Gert Strydom, 20 september 2012

The dark night

The dark night
wants to enclose everything with her cloak,
the dark night
bewitches the moon that waits on her
to join her shining yellow gold
and jollily people come home from
the dark night