Najnowsze prace:
Gert Strydom, 21 kwietnia 2016
Afterwards
After making love your skin glows
and your have energy
as if something is living in you
and with fire in your eyes
we quarrel, being two separate persons
and I frown at your words
that are hurting, but they belong to us
and with a sweet kiss you smooth
my troubles away and we laugh
while you lie naked against me
with your nipples pressing
against my chest
and the room cools down,
while darkness is sheltering us
and outside the rain falls
as without end
and while you sleep
in the moonlight I trace the lines
of your face
amd feel you breathing against me.
Gert Strydom, 20 kwietnia 2016
I walk in the veldt near to Majuba hillock
I walk in the veldt near to Majuba hill
where once farmers in battle stood
and the morning wind has a chill to it
where a bullet hit a British general true and good
and all that I feel is the lost,
the lost without measure and the severe cost
that British forces made women and children pay
and here at this outpost,
not even at the sight of the greatest victory
can I find any peace in me,
even if I fired that selfsame gun
that killed major general George Pomeroy
or drilled a hole right through
1st EarlHoratio Herbert Kitchener
it would not take away the killing, the homicide
that the British brought
and the terror, the injustice,
the inhumanity will never be gone.
[Poet’s note: This poem is written in remembrance of the twenty thousand (some figures are as high as thirty five thousand) innocent white Afrikaner women and children that died in British concentration camps, after their farms were scorched by the British in the Anglo-Boer war in South Africa, which includes a great grandmother of mine. For a clear picture of these atrocities read my epic poem “Through the eyes of a field coronet” which is based on the eyewitness account of field coronet JJ Potgieter.]
Gert Strydom, 19 kwietnia 2016
Vain are the words and deeds that are mine (Rubiyat sonnet)
Vain are the words and deeds that are mine
when they are not inline with Thine
and in this life when things go really bad,
when little by little my faith does decline
You are the omnipresent Deity
that does daily dwell with me,
who with selfless love brings me back
to answers that I did not see
and although it feels as if I am on my own
You do never leave me alone
and when all people do me forsake
You are still my friend, the only one
and although I daily struggle to survive
You do continually bring sense to my life.
Gert Strydom, 18 kwietnia 2016
When I do find no place of peace (sonnet)
When I do find no place of peace
then Lord, You are a place of rest to me
and in the depth of pain and disease
You do from all evil set me free
and in the depth of all my woe
when it feels as if I am dead,
when my hope and strength is low
You do still clear the way ahead,
even when it seems as if my world is destroyed,
when it seems that all that matter is gone,
that life is an endless bottomless void
then You do still lead on
and when my heart is broken and full of fear
You still do control my life’s tormented sphere.
Gert Strydom, 15 kwietnia 2016
Why I remember the Anglo-Boer war (John Dee sonnet)
They were tough men who believed in God
who used the holy word and the rod,
ancestors from Dutch and French Huguenot stock,
farmed with vineyards and livestock,
and our language and customs, to some odd
came from centuries that were harsh and hot,
where people herded sheep into a flock
from frontier life, where small children could cock
a rifle and could the hinterland unlock,
could fire at moving targets while at speed
but the British came to cause some amok,
destroyed women, children saw the need
to plunder, pillage, to burn, to kill, to shock
to make Christians, another nation bleed.
[Note by poet: This poem is written in remembrance of the twenty thousand (some figures are as high as thirty five thousand) innocent white Afrikaner women and children that died in British concentration camps, after their farms were scorched by the British in the Anglo-Boer war in South Africa, which includes a great grandmother of mine. For a clear picture of these atrocities read my epic poem “Through the eyes of a field coronet” which is based on the eyewitness account of field coronet JJ Potgieter.]
Gert Strydom, 14 kwietnia 2016
Lord, only in Your footsteps (Persian / Rubiyat quatrain)
Lord, only in Your footsteps there is life for me
and Your life sets me free from all of my iniquity
but every day I do struggle and fall
to stay step upon step with Thee.
Gert Strydom, 13 kwietnia 2016
On a night
An orange-red sickle moon hangs low
above the light speckled darkened land
while all of the neighbourhood is asleep
and thoughts do into my mind creep
when I hear great paws walking outside on the sand
and in my heart a speck of fear does grow
as if something unknown wants to from the darkness reach
and everything outside is not how it does appear
when there is a rattling at the pane and a violent scratch
and in the blue-white glow of a lighted match
an unknown black predatory form draws near
while far away the waves roll in and out on the beach.
Gert Strydom, 12 kwietnia 2016
Far too quickly time rushes on (Persian /Rubiyat quatrain)
Far too quickly time rushes on
and the happy days of youth are gone
and the company of your love does disappear
and you are the only lonely one
Gert Strydom, 11 kwietnia 2016
Like any other person
Like any other person my hands are stained by Your blood
but every sin and my own will
and everything that can bring separation between us
are covered by Your wondrous blood.
Gert Strydom, 10 kwietnia 2016
She lives beautiful (sonnet)
(after George Gordon, Lord Byron)
She has a kind of inner glow
that is reflected in her eyes
a kind of beauty that gods only can bestow
that is purer than the different hues of the skies
and wherever she goes people she does impress
with her sweet-hearted company,
with her cheery ways, how she flows in a dress
and yet her imperfections are many
but she has a quality that is lovely
that continually does stay with me
and she is so different
in the ways that brings to her grace
and comes over as innocent
in some of the expressions of her face.
[Reference: “She walks in beauty” by George Gordon, Lord Byron]
Gert Strydom, 8 kwietnia 2016
Where this world is but a grain of sand
Where this world is but a grain of sand
in the enormity of endless space
while man struggles in a eternal race
to be more to achieve, to really live,
to love and be loved,
to matter to some one and to society,
in reality we are just actors on a stage
while the rest of the universe looks on
while the struggle through aeons rages
between the forces of the Divine
and the minions of hell
while destiny does leave no man free
from taking to a side
but yet the wave of time comes crashing
onto the shore of life
and like grains of sand we are swept along
when death does take dominion
and oblivion comes to whom and what we were,
to the hearts of our living descendants
when from life we are gone.
Gert Strydom, 7 kwietnia 2016
On the day of my birth
On the day of my birth
I am with my own love
and everything on earth
or existing in the heaven above
means nothing more
than the sweet company
of the one that I do adore.
Gert Strydom, 6 kwietnia 2016
The crucifixion of the Son of God
In anger some religious officials and Roman soldiers came
to arrest Him and called out His name
when in great apprehension and fear
Peter did draw his sword and chopped off Malcus’s ear
and when He restored the ear back in place
there was great compassion and love on his face
but still the officials and soldiers did not comprehend
that they were taking the Son of God to His end.
The crowd that wanted Him dead was unruly and large
and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate could lay no charge
but ordered his soldiers to have Him stripped,
to strap down each wrist and have Him whipped.
A crown of thorns was forced upon his head,
he was mocked while to a cross he was led
and this was the man that healed the ill
that fed multitudes and preached of love with great skill.
Jesus from Nazareth was nailed to a cross
and although those that were killing him was at a loss
He said: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”
and if He himself would be eternally dead he did not have a clue
while without a fault He was from the day of his birth
but carried the sin of every converted human, of the whole earth,
could not connect with God while he did set others free
and did cry out: “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?”
Darkness came to the earth on that afternoon,
dark was the stars, the sun and the moon.
The Jews and Romans viewed this with dread
when the earth shook and people were raised from the dead.
To the Roman Centurion and his soldiers this was very odd
when they exclaimed: “Surely He was the Son of God”
and from the day that His blood did flow
God did His salvation on all people that do believe bestow.
Gert Strydom, 5 kwietnia 2016
Today my heart is full of joy
Today my heart is full of joy
and while being mature I again feel like a boy
with all of the splendours of the world at his feet
as my darling, my beloved, is with me
and between us there is a kind of sincerity.
Although other women at time I do meet
they do me at times annoy
and I see clearly through each scheme and every ploy
as they do mean nothing and from them I am free
and do always long to be
with the one whom I do adore.
Gert Strydom, 4 kwietnia 2016
A prayer (Sonnet)
(After Koos du Plessis)
Let me find a place of rest on this rough earth
that lies near to Your heart, as my best deeds do remain stained
and I do know the things that do draw me further and further from You
while daily I am involved in a fierce battle for survival.
Let me stay true step upon step in your footsteps
while Your wings do cover me continually
as every weak place in my heart I do know
and let Your life and your love become greater in me.
Lord, save me when from my own deeds I am lost once again,
at times perplexed do not know where to go
and when my own conceit and weakness do continually wound me.
Out of the depths of misery and pain You do continually come and fetch me
and all of my success, fame and what I do possess are only borrowed to me
while time does continually speed on with my shadow against the ground.
[Reference: “Gebed” (Prayer) by Koos du Plessis.]
Gert Strydom, 1 kwietnia 2016
On my birthday
(after Christina Georgina Rossetti written for the 3rd of April)
My heart feels like the morning breeze
that whispers through the flowering jacaranda trees.
My heart feels like a redbreast that dances before the rain
and sings its song of gladness again and again.
My heart feels like the first light of the breaking day
that burns intensely with happiness in each ray
but much more intense than these images is my joy
with the feelings that are between a girl and a boy.
Let I pray blessings to those that love and hate me
and from the iniquity of the my youthful past be free,
let my family and friends come from far and near
as there is much more to this day than does appear
as I am a grown man in the prime of my life
with a angel, companion and friend as my wife
and let there be rejoicing on my known earth
as my love is with me on the day of my birth.
[Reference: “A Birthday” by Christina Georgina Rossetti.]
Gert Strydom, 21 marca 2016
My heart has gone quite in me (Persian / Rubiyat quatrain)
My heart has gone quiet in me
and this is not from tranquillity
but from the sadness and all the hurt
that I do continually experience and see.
Gert Strydom, 21 marca 2016
Come to me
Come to me in the brightness of a day
or in the darkness of the night
and then let be whatever may
even if it seems wrong or right.
Come to me in the experience of a dream
and do compassion and love freely give
as there is much more to life than what it does seem
and with you I do want to constantly live.
Gert Strydom, 20 marca 2016
Soldier: yesterday
(in answer to Cornelius van der Merwe)
Out of the hell coming from stuttering Ak-47’s,
RPG-7 rocket grenades that destroy armoured-cars,
Stalin-organs that sing their deadly song,
T-55 tanks that circle in closer
men did return from the other side of the border
posthumous, wounded and bush-fucked
with every battle and the war won,
thousands of the enemy shot to pieces, killed,
their battle-tanks and armoured cars changed to scrap
so that even the Russian commanders realized
that against these brave men
they could not win.
Today these white citizen force soldiers
are seen by the government
almost as war criminals
and a monument had been built on a hillock
where they are not even mentioned,
where those that lost the war are esteemed highly
as the victors,
so as if history
can be turned back
by a corrupt black regime.
No revolution at Soweto, Langa and Nyanga
did force these Afrikaners to their knees
and in their God was their only salvation
against a vast majority of enemies and deadly weapons
in their fierce struggle,
but a bold-headed man (the leader out of own ranks)
did silently with his whole cabinet
walk over to the enemy,
and each other Afrikaner whose blood did flow
was betrayed and robbed from a chance of a existence
and around his head the Nobel price was hanged,
in his own glory, by himself being messianic
he was caught for long moments
as if he was bringing peace, while the death
of white farmers now circle out wider and wider
in the thousands.
[References: “En die omega” (And the omega) en “Soldaat môre” (Soldier tomorrow) by Cornelius van der Merwe.]
Gert Strydom, 18 marca 2016
At this place I have been before (sonnet)
At this place I have been before
where life like a smashing breaking wave just thunders on
and I do not remember anymore
as all those old memories are now gone
but in your eyes there is a kind of light
that keeps burning bright
and you have been my own darling
(of that I am pretty sure)
as there is something familiar to you
and yet holding you feels somewhat strange
as if again our lives have been rearranged
but still our hearts and feelings are true
as if past time and memories they do now endure
and knowing you stays amazing.
Gert Strydom, 17 marca 2016
There had been a kind of loneliness
There had been a kind of loneliness, a brokenness,
deep in your eyes,
a searching for greater meaning
and deeply moved
I wanted to bring something holy and honest to you,
with inadequacy
I did tattle when you did come right up to me
when with your loveliness I was moved.
Gert Strydom, 16 marca 2016
When the early the morning does begin (cavatina)
When the early the morning does begin
and you arise
my lady, the first doves do happy sing,
while the dew lies
on your garden’s most pretty flower cups
and in your eyes
with greatest joy golden the sun does shine
and forever I want you to be mine.
Gert Strydom, 15 marca 2016
Constantly I am astonished
Your beauty astonishes me constantly
when humility
does surround my whole life, shadows do fall,
with nobleness
you do become far more than just my princess,
oblivion
falls over the past when we do laugh together,
when I do yearn for each kiss from you.
Gert Strydom, 14 marca 2016
When I hold you tight
When I hold you tight
then I feel the depth of your trust
and I am aware of your heartbeat
as if every moment holds something deeper.
Gert Strydom, 11 marca 2016
Life is a gift
Life is a gift, a chance to exist
and some people have been great
while others will be greater still
and we do shape our life as best we can
act out the roles
of father, mother, brother, sister, daughter and son,
find someone to hold as the dearest of all
but still human we are
when at times we err, we fall
and our dreams are shattered into pieces
but yet constantly we do try,
we do reach to the unknown
with something more
than just a flickering of hope.
Gert Strydom, 10 marca 2016
Bus trip at night
In the winter outside it’s already dark
where we sit in the bus, ordered to a determined trip
and vague acquaintances from the daily coming en going do rise
while some others do dare loud conversations.
Outside a sickle moon hangs bright when the bus does brake
and your fingers do lock around mine and your eyes glitter like shining suns.
Your smile do entice a smile of my own and the worries disappear
where we are in a dungeon as slaves travelling between work and home
and strings of lights hang high and catch the eye,
as a enchantment to the cold city
but most of the people are grim, some somewhat sad
others are very tired and the bus does wobble on
roars up the hillock like an overeaten monster
that does vomit at the set bus stop.
Gert Strydom, 10 marca 2016
I have not seen the spark of life
I have not seen the spark of life
and yet I do know that it does exist
as people, animals, trees and plants
are alive all around me
and all the secrets of love I do not know
but wherever I do look its compassion does glow
and God in His glory I have not seen
but still He does His goodwill on me bestow.
Gert Strydom, 9 marca 2016
Kamikaze
(after Jan Swanepoel)
Behind me the sun shines blindingly bright
and the stormy wind devours along with me.
When I pull the lever to full throttle, my thoughts are clear as crystal
and I am not blinded by glory, patriotism and the will of God.
When I bind myself to the last moment of my life
it flashes past me like a movie in a bioscope,
the reason for my existence comes together in one endeavour:
to baptise the hellish enemy in destruction
and down I dive out of the cobalt-blue
past the crackle of heavy ordnance, past canister-shot
while I keep the aeroplane aimed precisely on the target
but for a last moment like the drawings of a great artist
my life is caught in a flaming death
to which all meaning does cling.
[Reference: “Kamikaze” by Jan Swanepoel.]
Gert Strydom, 8 marca 2016
Lucifer at sunrise
I
From the place that he calls home
mighty Prince Lucifer rose
stretched himself out under the sky’s dome
while everything was still at repose
throughout the world men were quarrelsome
a flock of birds did past close
but to him no final defeat had yet come
and he tasted the bittersweet victory
of the Lamb of God being nailed to a cross
and from that day his life had been transitory
filled with small victories and great loss
as his revolt (the age-old story)
had come at a personal cost
as had been recorded by history.
II
For mere moments he stood in awe
caught by the perfection of the rising sun
but still in place was God’s character, His law,
while a new day had begun
and he remember how it once had been,
of all the beautiful and great things that he had seen,
how perfect, how matchless had been his life
but now by his freewill he was leading a life of strife
and new strategies was in every thought
but for all the chaos and calamity that he brought
the omnipotent power of the Son
was still helping everyone
while God was ever-present watching him as a tiny speck,
continually holding him in check.
Gert Strydom, 7 marca 2016
The things in a town
In a building there are people singing “Gloria in excelsior”
and it’s beautiful like a choir of angels
but I do receive a track that insists on my salvation
and the traffic light does change.
Around me people past in a bunch
and on the other side an old white man holds out his hand
with a “good afternoon to you, sir” he greets me
and just there tries to block my way.
A flower vendor tries to push a bunch of deep red roses in to my hand
and says “buy them for the madam”
while the wind is jerking on his thin shirt
“mister, she will really like the roses.”
Right at the home affairs building
a camera is lifted to focus on me,
a hand with a pen is held out
and I slip and almost do lose my balance
and right there I wonder about the things that are happening in this town,
I want to escape into the veldt,
do see everybody standing with a stretched out hand
or maybe I want to return back to my Pretoria.
Ostatnie komentarze:
16 maja 2024
violetta
Może w lipcu będę miała takie wakacje:)
16 maja 2024
jeśli tylko
słońce w płynie..
15 maja 2024
Weronika
Za jeszcze jeden rejs!
14 maja 2024
Mam takie oko :)
14 maja 2024
Jaga
Zwierzęta upodobniły się do koloru otoczenia
14 maja 2024
To naturalny suchy i pustynny klimat. I tam są
14 maja 2024
Klimat taki, że nie był i raczej nie będzie,
12 maja 2024
Melancthe
Kajzerki są przereklamowane ;)
11 maja 2024
kb
wielki wypas - był albo może będzie. kto wie...
11 maja 2024
sama prawda z tym myśleniem i psoceniem ale
11 maja 2024
zastanowiło mnie czy owe cenienie kajzerek wynika
11 maja 2024
skomponowane kolorystycznie..
18 maja 2024
wiesiek
17 maja 2024
Deadbat
17 maja 2024
wiesiek
16 maja 2024
violetta
16 maja 2024
Marek Gajowniczek
15 maja 2024
wiesiek
15 maja 2024
Jaga
14 maja 2024
violetta
14 maja 2024
Misiek
14 maja 2024
Arsis