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Gert Strydom, 6 july 2016
The gardener
The man must know that spring is almost here,
around him the garden is lovely,
and seedlings he is planting in rows
and his fruit trees run up to the top of the hillock.
At the break of day he is already in his orchard,
around him the garden is lovely,
where He is praising God for His blessings
and when he washes the mud from his hands,
at the break of day he is already in his orchard
and there is a realisation coming to his mind
and he is happy that all of this comes from his hands
and when he washes the mud from his hands,
he knows that God is more than just merciful
and his orchard goes as far as the eye can see
and he is happy that all of this comes from his hands
and its not as if he deserves this prosperity.
The man must know that spring is almost here
and his orchard goes as far as the eye can see
and seedlings he is planting in rows
Gert Strydom, 5 july 2016
The old guitar (cavatina)
Without a song or sound it lays waiting,
gathering dust,
in the right hands it could sound quite lovely,
to sing it must,
songs of happiness and of some despair,
very unjust
life sometimes is; death brought the great silence,
that is now a lingering odd presence.
Gert Strydom, 4 july 2016
Dear Lord God
Omnipotent Father who are from evermore,
who knows the future as if it had happened before,
on whom the sands of time has no effect
let we pray to you with the respect
that belongs to a deity,
while you do set us from all life’s perils free
and daily in this evil world as we do dwell
let us each other of a father’s love tell.
Holy loving Son who did come to live upon this earth
astounded the universe was at your birth,
when you did begin your redemption plan
and the Prince of Peace became a mortal man
who paid with his life sin’s cruel cost
and salvation came to all sinners that were lost.
Your kind of love that is selfless is hard to comprehend
where you do love past any obstruction right to the end.
Great Spirit who hovered over the dark unknown deep
with matchless power you do the future keep
when in the hearts of men you do speak with love
and do a work that no one can remove,
let us remember in how our lives we do live
that you do countless blessings give
and when you do make us of our sins aware
let us follow our conscience and of our evil deeds beware.
Great Trinity that came to be by ways unknown
your presence in this world is shown
by nature’s beauty and the tender care
that is present everywhere
and when men do their own way go
may they of your presence know
and turn back to the righteous way
while they live in your loving care day by day.
Gert Strydom, 1 june 2016
Still life
She wears a kind of apron,
both of her hands are full of paint
where she is standing on the dark-red porch,
some shadows are burnt into the painting
and weeds bubble out at the steps,
both of her hands are full of paint
where she is observing it, does frown, and does drop the paintbrush.
She gazes at tables on a hobbling street
and weeds bubble out at the steps.
She does talk thought struck
but looks at Spanish building and a sea background,
she gazes at tables on a hobbling street
and later she moves around in the kitchen
and she has to serve some food
but she looks at Spanish building and a sea background
and she is scared that her husband is going to notice her newest painting.
She wears a kind of apron,
and she has to serve some food
where she is standing on the dark-red porch.
Gert Strydom, 30 may 2016
Two sides to everything (cavatina)
(after Judith Rodriguez)
Some devious fiends hold to the statement
that there’s two sides
to everything and to each viewpoint.
Some horror hides
in oppression in this very principle,
forcing to abide
as a true view sheer inhumanity,
anti-Semites killed millions gladly,
said they were only doing their duty,
and then to blame
they left a whole nation while they had fled,
in the great name
of patriotism, for the fatherland,
they brought great shame
and while they just meant extremely well,
they sent innocents straight to fiery hell.
[Reference: “How Come the Truck-loads?” by Judith Rodriguez.]
Gert Strydom, 27 may 2016
I have missed my country
I have missed my country
and suddenly did land in another world
where everything is third worldly
and does fall apart and is backwards.
Before I could wipe my eyes
people are working in government offices
and they do believe that the day of tomorrow will come
to do the things that is necessary
with those that had been qualified
pensioned off early
so that everything is in a mad confusion
and I am lost on another planet.
Gert Strydom, 26 may 2016
The sardine run
Near autumn each year
shoals of spawning sardines gather
to travel from their living arias
(in the Southern and Western Cape)
along the hot waters of the Agulhas Current
moving inshore against the coastline
(up to about Durban)
before dispersing and travelling
back to their home waters.
Hungry gannets hover above the shoals
before diving from heights
of up to thirty meters
with wings half closed
piercing the water like arrowheads
gulping down fish
as fast as they can,
floating on the water in great numbers,
having lost the ability to fly.
squawking as if complaining
that they cannot eat anymore.
On the fringes of the shoals
huge numbers of sharks, stingray, kob,
skates, kingfish, tunny,
barracuda, snoek, tuna, and bonito lurk
in the warm water
but never going
right into the shoals
and ashore numerous anglers
are trying to catch game fish
all along the coastline
while the sardine run is on
and some people
gather buckets full of sardines
from the waves on the beach
if the fish dare it
too near to the shore.
Gert Strydom, 25 may 2016
He lies stretched out in the sun
He lies stretched out in the sun
in the area next to the rugby field
that is still wildly overgrown at places
where a game reserve had been at a time.
He is safely fenced in,
protected against homeowners,
even some schoolboys
that wants to throw rocks at him
and like a wild animal
his hiding place is in the thick grass,
in the thicket and trees around him
there are birds that gambol
and some are building their nests.
He watches them somewhat hidden and amused
and he looks with mistrust
at the young man
that notices and calls him.
Ignoring the human he washes himself further,
does stretch out contently in the sun
and he cannot decide if he wants to climb a tree
or do want to find his prey in the gutter,
where he watches the world with his cat eyes
which yellow-green
does regard everything around him
and where he lies stretched out
he is the king of his own region.
Gert Strydom, 24 may 2016
Africa
When I look to my own continent
there are only ruins of places
that at a time was glamorous and I struggle to fit in
the beautiful places where waterfalls does roar
and I see people who are ravaged by famine, war,
unrest and a population explosion,
people who die from pestilence,
who live totally immoral,
and wild animals do disappear into hungry stomachs,
while I am blinded by the sand
as if the desert is crawling
deeper and deeper into the continent
and the political majority does devour everything
until nothing is left for anybody.
Gert Strydom, 23 may 2016
There’s no other country
There’s no other country
where I have seen the same blue hue
in the sky, have experienced
the same notion of experiencing
something so pure.
There’s no other country
where day by day
I have experienced the sun
flying up in its arc
like a eagle on its wings
but then one morning
a series of gunshots awakes me
where my neighbour across the street
lies bleeding
with robbers racing away
with his stolen car, passing me in a blur
and I wonder if he is still living,
rushing over the road to try to help him.
Gert Strydom, 20 may 2016
When death’s fingers do me touch
When death’s fingers do me touch
do not let a preacher come
to pray for me.
I will walk alone with my God
who stands free from men
to meet Him face to face.
Do not let a doctor come
to take away the pain
or give the strain of tears
let me be to experience
the blazing sun setting in the west,
to see the moon rising in the night sky
let I live life and follow the course
that destiny designs
and still make your love mine.
Gert Strydom, 19 may 2016
I wonder where is an untouched place that firmly does stand
Was the Son of God ever seen aeons ago strolling on South Africa’s farmland?
Did He take the fine red-brown earth in His omnipotent hand
where now are the factories, the furnaces and the concrete buildings of hell
and I wonder where is an untouched place that firmly does stand
while human beings are under money’s evil possessing spell?
(Still life is just a brittle, wilting, decaying strand
while we do in technological palaces dwell.)
Is there anybody who still does God’s countenance of love display
and who still does walk upon His righteous way
right up to the New Jerusalem
while the forces of darkness creep into the very day,
while God does keep the winds of war in check
or do I struggle alone along the narrow way?
Gert Strydom, 18 may 2016
You never came
You never came
and time caught on to me
while I waited in vain
and still you did not know
that I was expecting you
to appear out of the blue.
Longing gave a wish to me
to be with you
but even though you love me too
the pressures of live demands
that I am here and you are there
and at times live isn’t fair
and divine you are
but a human still
and what can I say
but how much I miss you.
Gert Strydom, 17 may 2016
I am afraid
I am afraid, my Lord divine,
that a life of constant trouble is mine,
that most men do part from Your ways
and do not see the way where Your glory does shine.
In this world of constant chaos You are the omnipotent deity,
the only one who set men from their troubles free
and yet evil brings this world closer to the Judgement Day
while all peace and rest is only in Thee,
while by science men try to prove that You are not
and a twisted, distorted view of You they have got
while with mercy and love You do offer restraint
and do not destroy, devour or remove the lot
while You do possess immortality,
are from the evil ways of this world free
and selfless love is in Your eternal plan
while You do dwell in infinity
and are trying to save all the descendants of man.
Gert Strydom, 15 may 2016
The silent countdown
Beyond computer screen they sit
with missiles aimed and primed
and are waiting on that moment
to on command turn keys simultaneously
to unleash somewhere on earth the fiery hell
that man has built
but the days stretch on and on
and run into many years
and might to eternity go
or in a great bright flash
the moment may come
to extinguish every living thing.
Gert Strydom, 13 may 2016
Without matter
Without matter to what you think you do know,
without matter to what position you do have in life,
be to judge other people very slow
even when you do witness unhappiness and strive.
Without matter to what experiences you have lived through
give others the chance to be themselves and to explain,
be careful in the way that you do act, in what you do,
as you could be responsible for unmentionable pain
when you do conclude to what you on the surface do see
and do not know the true feelings in the heart
the intention of what things is going to be
as living is a special, knowledgeable kind of art
in which each person does only play a role
but it does affect the world in whole.
Gert Strydom, 11 may 2016
Dare you character?
Dare you character accompany me
into the unknown that lies beyond life,
to a place where no man truly knows
how it is going to be?
Dare you character accompany me
to a place where there is no awareness,
no feelings or thoughts
in the depths of death?
Dare you character accompany me
to a place where no one is really free
until that great trumpet of God does roar?
Dare you character accompany me
to a place where the whole world does change
from what it was before?
Dare you character come along forevermore
to the shining gates of heaven
or the burning portals of hell
in that last awakening?
Gert Strydom, 10 may 2016
Once I wrote a kind of happy song (Orléans rondel prime)
Once I wrote a kind of happy song
but could not record its sweet melody
and then I was longing for somebody
with whom my life did go terribly wrong
and the rhythm of that tune stayed, was strong,
while the words was somewhat like a parody.
Once I wrote a kind of happy song
but could not record its sweet melody
Now of that song I have lost the body,
lost it like a child a among a throng,
do not know where any words do belong,
it could have been a kind of rhapsody,
once I wrote a kind of happy song
but could not record its sweet melody.
Gert Strydom, 9 may 2016
There is no other saviour
There is no other saviour for all the woe of humanity
than You my God,
no other person in the universe that does set men free
and some people find it odd
that I do find my peace and hope in Thee.
Gert Strydom, 5 may 2016
Alone we come into the world (for my mom on mother’s day)
Alone we come into the world,
beginning as cells
from somewhere unknown,
fall into life and the experiences of it
and are born from a mother without choice
but if it was possible to choose a mother
no other one would have been as wonderful as you
and my existence is knotted into your life
from the time of my first heart beat
and although you are frail with the years
still firmly you stand against the blows of destiny
and to me mother you are very special throughout the year
while at times life does frighten me mother
and still you take all of my cares to God.
Gert Strydom, 5 may 2016
With hunger in your eyes
With hunger in your eyes
you did look for a moment at me
with a gaze that does not recede before anyone’s
as if from me
or from someone else you would find help,
as if I had to hear you begging voice
and you did tremble in the cold wind
and somewhere you did loose your own humanity
and again
you wanted food from me
where you were wandering helpless between the shops
and I did not know what to tell you
as life did also turn its back on me
and I did draw the old jacket tighter against my body.
Gert Strydom, 4 may 2016
Please do forgive
Please do forgive all the sin that I have done,
even that heart-held unmentioned one
and all of the vain and evil thoughts, which came before
of which the effects do in the lives of others still run
Please do forgive the sin which fortune for me has won,
also the ones that I in my heart of hearts do shun,
where in innocence I took They name in vain
and those when out of control I do spun
and all the thoughts that were impure and many more
of which your just record does keep score
and all of the times that I have caused pain,
brought trouble to another’s door.
I know that You do sin utterly deplore,
but please take me safely to heaven’s far off shore.
Gert Strydom, 3 may 2016
Hoba West Meteor
Near Grootfontein at Hoba West
in Namibia
I saw the fifty-five ton rock lie imbedded
into the earth
where as a fireball it fell from the sky.
That burning piece of iron rock,
could have fallen upon my town Springs,
could have wiped my suburb,
my home into the naught,
like a nuclear device dropping from up high,
in bolide form could have exploded
in blue thunder, could have vaporized
everything in the vicinity
including me, my dogs, my cats
and neighbours too.
Gert Strydom, 29 april 2016
When I do consider how my time is spent
When I do consider how my time is spent,
where my emotions and deeds from You I cannot hide
while Your love and goodwill does go far and wide,
in work for others without pay at times I am bent
and whatever I do, You are always present
but at times it feels as if you do me chide
while what I am and am about cannot be denied
and humbly I ask that You do my thoughts of doubt prevent
as Your love, Your goodwill and presence I do constantly need
and but foul and deplorable are my efforts at best
where I am following in a sinful mortal state
trying in my devotions to catch some speed
but each day rushes past without a moment of rest
while almost intolerable people do on me wait.
Gert Strydom, 28 april 2016
I see him doing carpentry
I see him doing carpentry,
smoothing a piece of hard wood with a plane,
clamped on a big old vice
before cutting it, sawing it off
to the right length
and there were fire in his big blue eyes,
a burning intensity and integrity in them.
The smell of glue and sawn wood
tell tale from his tool shed,
with always a instrument,
sometimes a pencil, a hammer, a saw
in his big calloused hands
and a tenderness, compassion, love
in the eyes that looked at me.
He was a man who drew up plans
and build a big church
with his bare hands,
without charging for his labour
who knew the exact amount
of bricks, bags of cement,
lintels and whatever
went into a building or house
just by looking at the blueprints
and who could immediately
tell you the cost
almost to the last cent
and his workplace was tidy,
with everything in its place
and my grandpa was gigantic to me,
until one day
that a huge door
at a building came loose
and fell on him thundering
cutting his internal organs,
causing internal bleeding
and at the time
the doctors could do nothing for him
and he was an educated man
who swore that no child of him,
would have to be an artisan,
would have to work with his hands
like himself,
who wanted each and everyone
to get a proper education
at university
and have a decent job
and a great life.
Gert Strydom, 27 april 2016
When the two of us met
When the two of us met
there was happiness and tears
and it was if our destiny was set
for many great coming years
sparkling were our eyes and we were bold
with a strange kind of fire in every kiss
and our feelings were new and old
in a unknown kind of bliss
the brightness of the morning
touched the specks of dew on your brow
when sadness came without warning
of the moments that we do feel now
when our true feelings are unspoken
and day upon day suddenly came
where apart in longing we are broken
and for weeks the days remained the same
while time with you I do covet
and the sound of your voice is still in my ear
while the feeling between us I cannot forget
and to me you are still dear.
Gert Strydom, 26 april 2016
John Phillip
Forever the wandering ghost
of that meddling interfering missionary John Phillip
is haunting, and he is bellicose
and in the highest ears he again lets his words slip
and once again he acts the same
as at Slagtersnek where rebellious farmers did hang high
(were hanged again when the ropes broke)
and once more he slanders the Afrikaner’s name,
while innocently he tells lie upon lie
and here and there a funny joke.
Gert Strydom, 25 april 2016
On Pretoria (Italian sonnet)
On Pretoria (Italian sonnet)
I have not seen a city more fair
than Pretoria during spring
when on every street Jacaranda trees are flowering
and the scent of those flowers is in the air
and you might not find this kind of beauty anywhere
but in Pretoria where the faces of people are smiling
and to live in Pretoria during this time feels exciting
when any other city seems stripped, naked and bare.
From the outer hillocks history does its marvels display
where monuments rise as a token to existence
and churches, hero acres, offices and theaters lie
in the hazy beauty of the new day
while the people live their lives with persistence
as the days leap into years as they pass by.
Oor Pretoria
Ek het nie ‘n mooier stad gesien
as Pretoria in die lente
as Jakaranda bome op elke straat blom
en die geur van daardie blomme in die lug is
en dié soort prag sal mens nêrens anders vind
as in Pretoria met glimlagte op haar mense se gesigte
en om gedurende dié tyd in Pretoria te wees maak mens opgewonde
as elke ander stad gestroop, naak en leeg lyk.
Van die buitenste heuwels vertoon die geskiedenis wonders
waar monumente rys as ‘n teken van bestaan
en kerke, heldeakkers, kantore en teaters lê
in die wasige skoonheid van die nuwe dag
waar mense leef met volharding
as dae na jare spring soos wat hulle verby gaan.
Gert Strydom, 24 april 2016
Return
Returning to my Pretoria,
is like to stepping into a place
that is my own,
where I can feel
my own life beating,
where days run into remembrance
and passion does stretch almost endlessly back,
where life does take me back
to a place full of promises,
where flowering trees
does welcome me
as if that place stays part of my life.
Gert Strydom, 22 april 2016
Cecil John Rhodes (Italian sonnet) (in answer to Rudyard Kipling)
Some people followed your dream in your day
but to others it brought pain and death, as they died,
in war and concentration camps while you were full of pride
and for deliverance women and children did pray
while some saw you as gay, but not only in the happy way,
while roughshod you did over any opposition ride:
beware them that was not on you or your queen’s side
as with the lives of nations you did play
and where you are in eternal rest
the judgement of God will at a time be on you
as only He does the ways of nations ordain
your deeds, your life is forgotten at best,
as only to your own pocket you were really true
and to the innocent you brought poverty and pain.
[Reference: “The burial 1902” by Rudyard Kipling.]
Latest comments:
29 april 2024
violetta
Nie jest niczym podyktowany:)
29 april 2024
sam53
nic nowego, wszystko mam pod kontrolą... tak
29 april 2024
a jak wygląda nieromantyczny pocałunek...?
29 april 2024
Weronika
Przynajmniej przy bezdennym brzegu.
29 april 2024
Jesteś w niebie:)
29 april 2024
wg. pisma ... ? ...ale nie na 100
29 april 2024
Promieniowanie ciała doskonale czarnego.
28 april 2024
samoA
dziękuję. uśmiech posyłam
27 april 2024
Jaga
Bardzo, widać że dobrze mu z oka patrzy ;)
27 april 2024
On tak dostojnie chodzi, że to czysta przyjemność
27 april 2024
kb
hm tutaj pokazano niejako wprost sprawcę światła.
27 april 2024
sufit, uśmiech i barany... no tak to jest, sama
30 april 2024
Satish Verma
29 april 2024
Satish Verma
28 april 2024
Jaga
28 april 2024
Satish Verma
27 april 2024
Jaga
27 april 2024
Satish Verma
26 april 2024
wiesiek
26 april 2024
Satish Verma
25 april 2024
wiesiek
25 april 2024
Satish Verma