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Poetry

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

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Gert Strydom, 25 june 2012

To me you are the person (sonnet)

To me you are the person
that comes once in a lifetime;
there is a new fire burning in me
in my early years of age,
like a teenager I want to cover you with kisses,
your humanity catches me offside
and now that the years are drawing their lines,
I move nearer to the other side
but there are days that keep lingering
as if there is something more in being together,
constantly my life is getting some serenity
and even with my biggest enemy I have sympathy
while with you I am infatuated
and want to reconnoitre new horizons of love.

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Gert Strydom, 22 june 2012

There are only eyes appearing above the surface

There are only eyes appearing above the surface
in the brown water of the river’s pool
before they again disappear without a trace.
There are only eyes appearing above the surface
when it notices a prey, are covered by the water-curtain
where the crocodile hides in the depths of the river,
there are only eyes appearing above the surface
in the brown water of the river’s pool.

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Gert Strydom, 22 june 2012

The goshawk

The turning hawk suddenly breaks its flight
with claws stretched out,
it falls like thunder from the sky.
The turning hawk suddenly breaks its flight
and even when its prey is anxious
.it falls as if it is drawing into the earth;
the turning hawk suddenly breaks its flight,
with claws stretched out.

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Gert Strydom, 21 june 2012

The thunder storm came suddenly

The thunder storm came suddenly; the air was drawing close,
with grey and black clouds covering the heaven
and suddenly there was no more blue
with the whole day being only grey
while leaves were falling in yellow and brown everywhere,

with the wind cutting icily, trying to grab onto jackets,
untimely the rain came without respect
for the rules of nature,
the thunder storm came suddenly.

Suddenly the weather was in each conversation
of the doctor, lawyer and architect,
as if it contained something incomprehensible and evil
nobody trusted the sudden bad weather;
early in the afternoon people left for home,
the thunder storm came suddenly.

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Gert Strydom, 20 june 2012

One night in the tranquillity I heard Him pass

One night in the tranquillity
I heard Him pass,
for long moments nature was silent,
as if all things had come to a standstill,
when the sun was setting lingering He was near;
the bright moon
suddenly caught me later like a child,
as I was shaking and blinded by my sin.

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Gert Strydom, 19 june 2012

Forced to meet an enemy in a rifle’s sight (in answer to Keith Douglas)

Forced to meet an enemy in a rifle’s sight
a unknown man appears, scratches his head,
he lights a cigarette, draws on it until it glows,
looks at a photo in a way that only his wife knows
his attention moves somewhere up ahead,
to some ibises in their screeching flight

the crosshairs move to his heart bit by bit
while mechanically I test the wind,
thoughts of his family life now means nothing
while on the trigger my finger is pressing,
and no escape can a mortal man find
against full metal jacket bullets that accurately hit.

l’Envoi
Far too familiar is death’s smell,
when every soldier is more machine, than man,
far too familiar are the sounds of bullets whining,
the sight of bodies lying lifeless,
as putrid rotting human flesh, heartless,
the horrors of war are undermining
the essence of being human,
as soldiers live afterwards in a daily kind of hell.

[Reference: “Now in my dial of death appears” by Keith Douglas.]

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Gert Strydom, 19 june 2012

Proof of existing hell (cavatina) (in answer to Czeslaw Milosz)

As soldiers we have smelt the scorching flames
of man made hell,
witnesses to the effects of exploding
shell upon shell,
know the destruction that man can bring
only too well,
have stories to tell of a kind of hate,
when mere boys are thrown to the care of fate.

[Reference: “Proof” by Czeslaw Milosz.]

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Gert Strydom, 19 june 2012

Enemy skirmish (sonnet)

They come sneaking in the tambookie,
in the buffalo grass, past acacia trees
and linger for moments at the swampy marsh,
the birds suddenly get silent and even the insects,
when they relax, light cigarettes and smoke,
as they linger for long moments laughing
and I can smell the stinking sour of their sweat,
when my heart beats anxiously,
brown ibises fly up scolding,
impalas in a herd burst away
and they walk straight into our ambush
with AK-47 rifles hanging as without importance,
somewhere a long green snake rustles
and when my LMG comes alive I loose all of my fear.

[Reference: LMG = light machinegun.]

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Gert Strydom, 19 june 2012

On patrol

The AK-47 bullet
hangs as a pendant
with dog tags around my neck
(it could have been a memento
made of gold from you,
but our love is through,
shattered into pieces)
and it swings to and thro
while I bend to wash my face
in the cold water of the stream

enemy boot tracks
lay plastered in the mud
on the riverbank and in the stream
I spot two dots, barely showing eyes
where a crocodile drifts on the prowl

and this morning the bush, the river
smells different, somewhat peaceful
as if no man has ever wandered here
but the sub-machinegun
next to me, keeps reminding me
that death lurks everywhere.

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Gert Strydom, 18 june 2012

You who constantly truly love me

You who constantly truly love me,
draw the barrage
of the pain and worries that I carry
and silently you endure my inabilities,
while you make me to be a man
and every hour
also brings a silent kind of joy, relief,
when love becomes real, when you are with me.

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Other poems: For now and for always, The temptation of being near to her, Your walking away is measured in watt, In the garden (ABECEDARIUM), Just for a moment it is there, There are people, Unknowing we may be living in a war zone, Holiday, I yearn for the secrets of nature (sonnet), At 52 the nuts of my country are stripped, A strange dream (triolet), The beach, the morning, Where star systems do disappear in the nought (sonnet), Come to my flower garden, Warriors of the civil service, This morning the sky glitters blue, You must not show any fear, My dear loving God, Sad tidings, Morning, Mirror image, The sun hangs orange red, Divorce V, Divorce IV (Espinela), Divorce III, Divorce II (cavatina), Divorce, Respite, At times we are only set on passing (American sonnet), The peach tree, The gardener, The old guitar (cavatina), Dear Lord God, Still life, Two sides to everything (cavatina), I have missed my country, The sardine run, He lies stretched out in the sun, Africa, There’s no other country, When death’s fingers do me touch, I wonder where is an untouched place that firmly does stand, You never came, I am afraid, The silent countdown, Without matter, Dare you character?, Once I wrote a kind of happy song (Orléans rondel prime), There is no other saviour, Alone we come into the world (for my mom on mother’s day), With hunger in your eyes, Please do forgive, Hoba West Meteor, When I do consider how my time is spent, I see him doing carpentry, When the two of us met, John Phillip, On Pretoria (Italian sonnet), Return, Cecil John Rhodes (Italian sonnet) (in answer to Rudyard Kipling), Afterwards, I walk in the veldt near to Majuba hillock, Vain are the words and deeds that are mine (Rubiyat sonnet), When I do find no place of peace (sonnet), Why I remember the Anglo-Boer war (John Dee sonnet), Lord, only in Your footsteps (Persian / Rubiyat quatrain), On a night, Far too quickly time rushes on (Persian /Rubiyat quatrain), Like any other person, She lives beautiful (sonnet), Where this world is but a grain of sand, On the day of my birth, The crucifixion of the Son of God, Today my heart is full of joy, A prayer (Sonnet), On my birthday, My heart has gone quite in me (Persian / Rubiyat quatrain), Come to me, Soldier: yesterday, At this place I have been before (sonnet), There had been a kind of loneliness, When the early the morning does begin (cavatina), Constantly I am astonished, When I hold you tight, Life is a gift, Bus trip at night, I have not seen the spark of life, Kamikaze, Lucifer at sunrise, The things in a town, When from me she is out of sight, How chilly like winter, Some times, I love you, Long Beach, As my eyes gaze into the dark night, I see her dancing gaily, Right against the morass, African September, A room in the past, The secret room, It had been a hell of spring with the sun hanging scorching, The marsh, For my darling, with New Year, The old year, Today people are not interested, South Africa is also my country, In this distant country, What fanciful lives we lead, As if they are beacons, You are my darling (sonnet), On Christmas, Last night I dreamt of you, Where are we now?, I had dreamt of you, At night the mind plays its tricks, Inside you and I dance, One Military Hospital, Something about a bird in a tree, While the year hangs skeleton, I gave my love to you, No other painting, Field of maize, The red arum lilies, Would my words, When the front door, At dusk, Child, Cry, Maybe 4, Maybe 3, Maybe 2, To be us, Photocopy machine, I do love Africa, While everything is turning brown outside, The crumbling man, My small Jack Russell dog, With self contempt I stand in the veldt, The fallen Cuban soldier, There is a time when night sneaks in, After the farm invasions in Zimbabwe, The small redbreast sings and dances, I love you, Walls, A child is a strange thing, Baby lies so fast asleep, It is a pitch-dark night, Hecuba, A pastor,

Latest items:

Poetry

To me you are the person (sonnet)

There are only eyes appearing above the surface

The goshawk

The thunder storm came suddenly

One night in the tranquillity I heard Him pass

Forced to meet an enemy in a rifle’s sight (in answer to Keith Douglas)

Proof of existing hell (cavatina) (in answer to Czeslaw Milosz)

Enemy skirmish (sonnet)

On patrol

You who constantly truly love me

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