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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 10 september 2015

Words (2)

I thought that words
would draw you closer to me,
but words set us apart literary
in the real sense
and forever you and I
will never be coming together with words.
 
Words although magic
are always reaching out
to someone else,
 
as if you see
each and every poem
as competing against yours
and never do we bond
by the skill of words
 
and even the words written to you
carry their messages
but do not really hit the mark
 
as if I am only giving blank pages
with absent messages
and my writing more and more
does create less for you.


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 10 september 2015

Words (in answer to Vincent Oliphant)

When I read in a great poem
that humanity lies beyond
the borders of life and culture
I saw the poet hope
as if peace
would suddenly come down from heaven
 
and I did wonder if it was possible
to remove the animal from man
who rather wants to tread down,
vituperate and steal?
 
I did become to realise
that the people in whom
the in dwelling of God does lack
are filled with darkness
and like barbarians they do believe
that violence is the last resort
 
and still it did not take the bullet
out of every firearm,
and still it did fail
to make anything else of the Panga blade
than a deadly killing thing
 
and the reality of the unknown robber
who sneaked around with a knife in the back of my yard,
my two cars that were stolen,
the loss of my work,
and affirmative action
does still threaten my life,
does force me down upon my knees
to pray to the omnipotent God.
 
[Reference:  “Woorde” (Words) by Vincent Oliphant.]


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 10 september 2015

When I heard the learned professor

When I heard the learned professor
lecturing in mathematics,
talking about parabolas,
about calculating some interesting things
like division approaching zero
and the limit applying to it
I saw you, your breasts
and my thoughts were led astray
trying to calculate the circumference,
the curves and shape of your breasts
and I was truly blessed
when you blushed and smiled back at me
and I thought about your perfect body,
a thing that only the creator God
had the ability to calculate and to construct.


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 9 september 2015

The statue of uncle Paul

(after Toon van den Heever)
 
In the summer sun the great colossus rises
where paltry yet gigantic he still stands
with his eyes looking northwards
and his gaze sweeps right through veldt and bush.
 
Still he struggles on without being swayed
and his whole being is fierce and always true
as if nothing can stop that keen eyes
and his gaze sweeps right through veldt and bush
 
to find liberty whatever it does cost,
beyond him lies death that could not break a people,
it’s the hope of a free existence that is looking
and his gaze sweeps right through veldt and bush.
 
In the summer sun the great colossus rises
and his gaze sweeps right through veldt and bush.
 
[Reference:  “Die beeld van oom Paul” (The statutue of uncle Paul) by Toon van den Heever.  Poet’s note:  The ANC Youth league is trying to remove this very statue.]


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 8 september 2015

Twilight

(after N. P. van Wyk Louw)
 
Twilight, twilight
what are you bringing?
I wonder
while the rays of the sun do circle out wider.
 
There is a new excitement in me
as today is open and I feel free
as if life does hold new promises and possibilities
and maybe it’s the day that you will come.
 
[Reference: “Rooidag” (Dawn) by N.P. Van Wyk Louw.]


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 7 september 2015

Time finds wings (A reply to Edward Thomas)

The day is unwilling to break open,
as slices like a orange,
unwilling to let me bite
into its centre, in to its deep core
 
and time finds wings,
passing ever passing
without me accomplishing
the things that I set out to do
to which I sometimes set my heart to
 
and I can hardly tell the distinction
between heaven and hell,
between good and bad
as emotions are on a rollercoaster
under the spell, attraction
of falling in love
where it is judged to be inappropriate
 
and happiness eludes, escapes me,
as well as beauty,
or what I find beautiful and lovely
and am I now harkening to small petty blessings
and have to be content with little things
as if the things that gives meaning to life
are reserved for someone else
 
and the sky, the veldt the world
of my own heart yearns for more
besides motion, hue and actions
that responsibilities draw,
I yearn for you, for your love
and the blessing of your tender caress.
 
[Reference: “The Glory” by Edward Thomas.]


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 7 september 2015

Small blonde curly head

Where he walks happily in the garden
he watches a gecko big-eyed,
the entire world lies open before him,
 
his attention is attracted by ‘n big koi-fish
that watches him with large eyes from the pond,
he watches a gecko big-eyed
 
and he tries to touch the fish and the water is cool
while he catches a small frog
that watches him with large eyes from the pond,
 
he presses the small animal against his cheek
and it jumps from his hands
while he catches a small frog
 
and the fishes are circling the pond
when he picks up another frog
and it jumps from his hands
 
and he is splashed dripping wet.
Where he walks happily in the garden
when he picks up another frog
the entire world lies open before him.


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 4 september 2015

A modern Bible story

When I am walking down Voortrekker road to buy a new car
I come upon an old man lying on the sidewalk
and he has been stripped of all of his possessions,
 
he groans and can barely say a word
and I do notice that he is from another race.
I come upon an old man lying on the sidewalk,
 
his glasses have been slapped from his face and his possessions are missing.
The new car is shining where it waits
and I do notice that he is from another race,
 
the pastor from the local church hoots drives past and is waving at me,
the poor man is barely aware of what is going on in the bad state that he is.
The new car is shining where it waits
 
but he lays wounded badly and is bleeding and knocked cold.
An elder drives slowly past a wounded man but suddenly speeds up,
the poor man is barely aware of what is going on in the bad state that he is
 
and humanity forces me to take care of the badly wounded man.
When I am walking down Voortrekker road to buy a new car
an elder drives slowly past a wounded man but suddenly speeds up
and he has been stripped of all of his possessions.


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 3 september 2015

A man in the city

In the distance a church bell rings off the midnight hour
and where the night tries to fold her cloak around the city
I am lonely driving a motorcar
 
and streetlights, neon signs and traffic lights light up the roadway
but there is no darkness and everywhere around me its twilight grey,
a high apartment building is on fire
 
with fire-engines with flashing red lights that are rush to it
while a crowd of onlookers are watching the scene with interest
and here and there a couple that lives in it stands astonished
 
when in the distance the chimneys at a petroleum structure flame blue-white,
and I see the bright white fire of melting ovens
when I am tired and far pass fatigued
 
while I am busy driving back to my home in one of the suburbs
and now do not trust the tilting landscape, lights that rush pass
and nowhere there is a place of rest to be found.


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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom, 2 september 2015

With a view on the passing road

She walks to the porch
and she carries a basket full of pomegranates from the orchard
while the brown dog is running all around her,
 
at the step to the porch her husband greets her without a word
and a pomegranate falls so hard that the pips scatter
and she carries a basket full of pomegranates from the orchard,
 
she steps into the red juice that sticky blots the floor,
she barely hears his damn it
and a pomegranate falls so hard that the pips scatter,
 
and he says that she is incompetent and clumsy
but her gaze is on the road,
she barely hears his damn it
 
and she hopes that a shining new car will on a day take her away
and docile she bends to pick up the remains of the two fruit
but her gaze is on the road,
 
where she is setting her scope into the distance.
She walks to the porch
and docile she bends to pick up the remains of the two fruit
while the brown dog is running all around her.


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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,
 

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