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Gert Strydom, 15 march 2013
A place in the sun
(in answer to Daleen Enslin-Strydom)
There are moments in every day
when the small things
that are happening brings
a sense of belonging
makes my thoughts, my longings stray,
to you and like a child
in faith, in trust
you are my hope, the one
when all other things are gone.
Sometimes it’s difficult to find tranquillity
to be the one that you expect me to be
but our love has got wings that overreach
each new tomorrow
and it goes far beyond sorrow and pain
we are no longer just each to each
and something does remain
something that is really great and sublime
as if from the first moment in time
we were created to be together
as if hard wired into our souls
we are to be never alone.
From far beyond the sun, stars,
planets and galaxies beyond the know universe
our time and place in the sun was set;
before we had even met
you were destined to be my wife
and I have know that a time will come
as if our being together was written in stone.
[Reference: “A place in the sun” by Daleen Enslin-Strydom.]
Gert Strydom, 11 march 2013
Another winter (imagism)
Biting coldness grabs me with rain on this winter night -
where I walk along the promenade
and the wind is alive
and grabs on to me and grabs me again
like a impudent child
and bleak-white a lightning bolt crashes down
and I smell the explosion of that intimacy
while the red face of the moon bursts out of the sea,
disappears and are again present,
like a swimming champion
that breaks through the water with breaststroke
and for moments I stand to watch the water
which is black, wild and stormy
like a very angry woman
and I hear the moaning of the wind,
while the stars peer at me through the wind tossed clouds
with strange earnest faces.
Gert Strydom, 19 july 2013
Lily of the valley (Novelinee)
With a natural kind of subtle ease
aromatic your small bell-shaped flowers
bloom somewhere among the many trees,
quietly springing up after rain showers
you bring happiness and bliss through fate
with a unmistakeable sweet green scent
luring the nightingale to its mate
before your fragile flowering is spent
as if some angels down your steps descent.
Gert Strydom, 12 march 2013
I see a small shack
I see a small shack
with pumpkins and rock
on the tinplate roof
to keep it in place.
There’s fog hanging over the marsh
and the croaking of frogs
comes forth like a choir.
I smell rain
that suddenly is falling on the outside
and the smell rises from the red brown dust,
and I see thunderbolts
drawing blue lines
and I am well sheltered
against wind and rain
and around me
the maize fields are green
and I have found my own little Eden.
Gert Strydom, 28 march 2013
There is a place where everything comes together
There is a place where everything comes together,
where life comes to a kind of crossing point
where joy, pleasure and deep anguish
even every crisis does get an answer,
where the blood of God covers sin,
where man is not being forced to believe
but have got a own choice,
and the selfless love of God does comes free
and here where our earth
by our own choice has gone to tatters,
we that are mortal live like gods
until everything that is living wants to avoid us
and we are never without our own will
but in all of this we do loose God.
Gert Strydom, 8 march 2013
Our love that was lost
Our love that was lost
has been again found,
but at a terrible cost
heartache drove me into the ground.
Our garden is again blossoming
while in love we carefully plant
kisses and caresses,
swear to each other to be true
and somehow I forever new
that this day of happiness would come,
even in the darkest night
dreamt of you.
Gert Strydom, 21 february 2013
I have to escape from the city’s roaring din
I have to escape from the city’s roaring din,
from the continuous rushing of hasty feet,
to a place of tranquillity that I do adore
where the breaking blue sea is rushing in,
far away from the crowded busy street
at the shelter of a snow-white pure shore.
Gert Strydom, 25 june 2012
You fit perfectly into my life (sonnet)
You fit perfectly into my life
I feel your steps where ever I go,
I even see your reflection in the glass
without it betraying your presence
and the times that we laugh together
now are happening more and more;
as if our humanity waits on each other
fragments of current events stay lingering,
as if you are the light in my life
I search for signs in the Milky Way,
in human recollections and even in memories
to find why you are know, but without explanation
of this connection between us,
that only draws us tighter together.
Gert Strydom, 8 january 2013
Maybe I come from a time
Maybe I come from a time
where things were better and different
than they are now
and still I keep believing and do trust
that every person deserves an own place in the sun.
Even when some of my wife’s family members
have been mowed down by criminals in a robbery
I still want to keep believing
in our country, in our time
some kind of change will come,
that people will grant each other a own free existence,
that the Lord God walks at the front of the road
to make it even
and that this is a year of prosperity and hope.
Gert Strydom, 6 november 2012
Tonight stars do twinkle (English sonnet)
Tonight stars do twinkle with their glowing light
while the wonders from God’s hand do shine
and some are dim and some are white and bright
as they display a power Godly and divine
and from the moment they did begin
every night they do find their way
as Godly beacons to a world of sin
until the very break of day
while constantly they do glow
and in the darkness do appear
as if some hidden purpose they do know,
as if to them constantly Godly power is near
as they are shining always sparkling
and to onlookers some wonder and joy they do bring
Gert Strydom, 6 december 2012
Daybreak
Becoming wide awake at the first light
he lies motionless, watches her
in her tranquil sleep,
where she is right there,
but somewhere away from him.
He is far too scared to move,
scared to wake her up
before the set time
and then suddenly her eyes open,
she watches him,
draws him close to the heat of her body.
Gert Strydom, 11 january 2013
Where we stand at the beginning of a new year
Sometimes we want to go back to a shed in Bethlehem
when we are at the beginning of a new year
and we long to a time and day
where things are different, but life goes on
and in the here and now we are caught,
sometimes full of happiness and at other times afraid
when peace and joy are almost within reach
when hope, new promises and better days almost hang on the horizon
and still He walks like long ago in Nazareth in advance,
while He beacons the way arrow straight
where sometimes we see Him fleetingly
as if He is waiting on us to catch up
but we remain afraid of the coming times
and sometimes loose our view of Him.
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?
Gert Strydom, 16 january 2013
A kind of freedom
Here I want to thank the black government
for their type of freedom that circles out wider,
from a job I have been affirmed and are free from it
and it is not very long
that I am again aware about this freedom thing,
when black robbers drive around in both my cars.
Before I can wipe out my eyes the police visit me
while they wander around in my house
without a invitation, or even a warrant
where they set me free of my pellet guns,
my stainless steel Colt .45 signature model pistol
and ELG shotgun without laying a charge.
I have to deal with freedom again
when black people cheer in the street
about the soccer world cup,
jumping up and down everywhere around me
while they sing, they assure me of freedom,
but my cellular phone disappears
and the felon that has it is also very happy.
At home a stranger rushes upon me
while he points a firearm at my head
to rob me from my possessions,
to set me free from my property
and probably spits AIDS into my face,
says he was promised a land of milk and honey
and if you think that here I am only joking
you do not get the real meaning of this poem,
as these things did really happen
and still I am facing this kind of freedom.
Gert Strydom, 8 january 2013
New Year’s Eve
The year slowly comes with the ticking clock to an end,
while the new year is almost born
when the neighbours drown themselves in liquor,
and afraid of the festive sounds the cat sneaks in again.
Soberly we have our own festivities,
while outside thundering explosion on thundering explosion occurs
when the New Year is almost born
and afraid of the festive sounds the cat sneaks in again.
Later more meteorites explode
and they hang like stars to the heaven
while the neighbours gather around a barrel of wine,
and afraid of the festive sounds the cat sneaks in again.
Gert Strydom, 4 july 2012
An ibis screeched outside in the garden
An ibis screeched outside
in the garden
suddenly slapped its big bronze-brown wings
and touched
by the frenzy you turned around,
without a word
pulled me deep into your arms,
suddenly you covered my face with kisses.
Gert Strydom, 3 july 2012
While I am still far over the hill
When life takes me
over ghastly paths with a precipice
I want to stray into the darkness
but still your heaven is stretched out blue over me,
with the sun burning intense warm white
and I look at the moon where it’s high,
or low in a variety of
yellow, white and even silver colours
and when the wind rises cruelly to devour me
You are always there with arms wide open,
like a father coming to the rescue,
who is already running
while I am still far over the hill.
Gert Strydom, 21 january 2013
A picture lingers with me
A picture lingers with me
of God hanging as a man on the cross,
of Mary standing dumfounded nearby
and mere humans mocking Him about His powerlessness
when the bright day fled into the night,
when God himself paid a sacrifice for the human existence
and this scene remains in my mind
and to me its reality, not just only a very old story.
Gert Strydom, 21 january 2013
There is a kind of love that I do not really understand
There is a kind of love that I do not really understand
and when my thoughts go to the bible story
then I wonder in my own sinful human nature
how an almighty God comes to a word of fear?
Through the ages the hammer blows keeps ringing
as man did crucify the God of the universe
who did not keep them that murdered Him accountable
as darkness and sorrow came over the earth
and when even an idol worshiper out of the Roman legion
realised that it was the son of God and reconciled himself with the Lord
a price was paid in unmentionable love
and this pain and sorrow keeps lingering in my thoughts.
When the world looks threatening and terrible
I still see His eyes looking in love from the cross.
Gert Strydom, 8 january 2013
Its as if my country is on a different planet
It’s as if my country
is now somewhere on a different planet
and early in the morning I see the poor black man
where he sits with hair like strings
covered in a blanket
against the wall of the ABSA bank
where people at eight o’clock
stand in a very long queue
while they wait upon the bank to open
and the friendly police captain
(who sometimes wear plain clothes)
and has a shining bald head
greets me and he wants to know
where my motorcycle is?
There are a group of jobless white people
twisting tobacco from cigarette buts
where they beg for leftover food
at DJ’s restaurant
and I wonder what is happening to this country
while a minibus taxi
stops in the middle of the road
and drops people in the traffic
and the traffic light is green
when I cross to the shopping centre
and the minibus taxi ignores the red light
and barely misses me.
Gert Strydom, 16 july 2012
Last
When the light dims from my eyes
there will be no fatherly hand
to hold on to mine
to feel the last pulse
of life beating
while the darkness claims me
and when I disappear from life,
glide into death
You are the Father
that I find on the other side.
[References: “Erato” by Anyte. Laaste (Last) by Riana Scheepers.]
Gert Strydom, 17 july 2012
Progress
Dress your legs with nylons
with cat eyes in between
glowing next to huge pylons
never serene, just weirdly obscene
and destroy every patch of green
with shopping malls and every chain store
disrupting how towns and cities had been
and plant power stations by the score
and be a age totally foul
with scores of minibus taxi’s asunder
acting as if without a soul
to kill and to plunder
with the monsters bellowing
smoke like gallows, energizing electrical strings.
Gert Strydom, 26 november 2012
Arrival
With a tingle that rushes in my blood
you run up to me with a great smile
when I arrive from the aeroplane
and again I am astonished by your beauty
when a crowd of people move around us
and we embrace and are lost in each other.
Moments stretch out almost eternally
when we disrupt the movement of other passengers,
when pairs of eyes stare deeply into each others
as if we see each other for the first time,
when time keeps lingers as if it does not exist
and we embrace and are lost in each other.
Gert Strydom, 1 august 2012
When suddenly you came along (Trijan refrain)
When suddenly you came along
my whole life had changed,
unexpected my love was strong
life was rearranged
and butterflies dart everywhere
while some bees visit here and there
and butterflies
and butterflies
turn my stomach, I am without care.
When suddenly you came along
I did not know your name,
if to somebody you do belong,
but somehow our love came
your face had grace, your eyes did gleam
and your voice was like a stream
your face had grace,
your face had grace,
and you leapt into each dream.
When suddenly you came along
you were most beautiful
and with you I could not be wrong,
as my whole heart was full
of our great love on each new day
and my heart was happy and gay
of our great love,
of our great love
that not a thing could take away.
Gert Strydom, 13 december 2012
When daylight comes
When daylight comes the clouds draw open
while the night takes all of her shining stuff,
the rays of the sun walk through the heaven,
stars shatter to pieces beyond the blue
and when the moon gleams golden after the twilight,
become much bigger as if it gets nearer
and climbs with a bow over the horizon
then the night clothes herself in her satin black cloak again,
while stars appears like white falling pieces of hail.
Gert Strydom, 26 november 2012
Let us love nobly (Stave stanza sestets)
May we learn to love as deep and as true,
that not a thing can remove me from you
that all our words and actions only prove
that we both do truly know how to love,
when in old age we are, our days do pass,
in our love, everything might be as it was.
May we love each other with no decay,
that each tomorrow be better than today
and when all of life has run its own course,
in death there will be sleep and no divorce
and when we stand before our God at last
in our love, everything might be as it was.
Gert Strydom, 19 december 2012
With eyes sparkling green and gold
With eyes sparkling green and gold
you did look at me
and for moments we looked at each other.
Out of the branches of the old pepper tree
doves shyly peered at us
and the wind rustled through your hair.
I wanted to show you the flowering irises,
wanted you to smell the jasmine
but we were caught in each other.
Gert Strydom, 20 december 2012
There is loneliness in the autumn wind
There is loneliness in the autumn wind,
it whirls leaves and clouds of dust up
when by accident you walk into me
and we stumble and fall over each other
when our eyes meet
and suddenly you smile at me.
Gert Strydom, 24 december 2012
This is how Christmas is
With cupped hands I see him standing at a traffic light
and around him lines of cars drive past,
while people go on with their own lives
and some drive faster,
others cut in before others
and in silence he stands there without a single word.
At a shop window he sometimes stand with wide eyes,
where new clothes, very expense toys
are almost touchable near to him
and he does wish on this Christmas
to get something special
and his clothes are in tatters,
his black skin almost grey from hunger,
impatient cars continually blow on their horns
and he dreams about a large and pretty house
where the most delicious smells linger in the kitchen
and sometimes people look at him with pity,
while he longs for a very special kind of place
where a lost son is always welcome,
where God Himself stand welcoming with arms open wide,
where you can smell the fragrance of roasted lamb
and nobody does experience grief, are hunger or cold.
An old lady sincerely takes pity on him,
pushes a hot loaf of bread and a bottle of milk in his hands,
while others avoid him
and he does miss his father and mother who are both dead,
thinks this is how Christmas is
and suddenly his teeth glitter in a smile.
Gert Strydom, 18 july 2012
Landmine
When the Buffel troop-carrier detonates a landmine
we see dark dots moving in the bush
and I break loose with the light machinegun
that the empty burning-hot caps hit against me
and as long as there is movement
on the other side of the dry riverbed
our fire is drawn
until everything is motionless.
With the smell of gunpowder hanging around us,
a skimpy goat-herdsman
crawls out from behind a giant ant hill
and cries about his dead goats.
Gert Strydom, 18 july 2012
A Phosphorus projectile explodes
A Phosphorus projectile explodes
burns soldiers to particles of dust
when an enemy tank fires
hitting a Ratel armoured car in a bright glare,
burns hissing right through the blood of boys,
it becomes a terrible hour
where humanity goes totally dim.
Gert Strydom, 17 july 2012
Like ants living clustered in (cavatina)
Like ants living clustered in, we do live
and are rushing
without noticing the red rising sun;
and everything
falls into place in our quickened pace
and each feeling,
action, glance is set in a quick-fix day
where we do loose the ability to pray,
with significant others instead of
husbands and wives,
where our children do not have to obey,
living their lives
totally Godless as they reach for more
and are in strive
with the laws and the ways of society
as everything centres just on I and me.
Gert Strydom, 22 january 2013
The heart of a human is a strange thing
The heart of a human is a strange thing,
it’s a place that words and deeds do penetrate
or to some only a pumping station for blood
but still love can let it sing without words
and now I wonder what to do with you?
Will I be able to disappear into your depths?
Will I eternally anchor to who and what you are?
Will I trust you to keep all of my secrets?
That something deeper is present than any words can say
is constantly clear to me when your hand lies in mine
and if this thing is love that binds me to you
then I would never want it any different.
and to laugh and cry with you,
to hide against the rough world at your side
seems to me like how things should be
when we love each in innocence without fear.
Gert Strydom, 28 january 2013
While picking a rose
While picking a rose
you are for moments astonished
in wonder over the colour,
the beauty and the soft fragrance
but a small thorn catches you,
leaves a small dot of blood at your wrist
and you cut off some more roses
that you do arrange
and push into a vase in the front room
and while you are caught thought-struck
you look lovely, you do look wonderful.
Gert Strydom, 1 february 2013
Woman with the cello (in answer to Johann Johl)
Next to an apple tree at a crossroad
a woman plays a song of love
which is swept away by the wind,
as she plays a cello at her thigh
the wind blows swishing past and she is alone
and wonders when spring will come
with the apple tree blooming again
and half-blinded she plays
with her heart that she pours into the song.
Three howling foxes are caught by the melody
and they linger as if they are hanging onto the tune
while she plays with deep a deep kind of longing.
[References: Painting: “Woman with the cello and foxes” by Andrzej Busza. Gedig: “Vrou met tjello en jakkalse” (Woman with the cello and foxes) by Johann Johl.]
Gert Strydom, 28 january 2013
Outside the wind did blow
Outside the wind did blow
while the first blossoms of spring did appear
and I could swear
that there was a whispering,
a kind of message from you
and the stars glittered like your eyes
as if they like you
were looking at me in love.
Gert Strydom, 26 june 2012
Church Street, Pretoria
Right down the street the traffic lights are green
and a couple of homeless men stand around a fire
in a half drum and ambulances and police cars scream
while they past rows and rows of flats for hire
and a couple of kids stand smoking at the stream
and this is reality, the heart of the city.
On the sidewalk pedestrians walk in crowds of men,
women and some children, some booted up to the knee
others with mini skirts short enough to condemn them
and my city stays lovely to me.
People queue for fried chicken, fish
and chips at shops and cafés and the smells fill my nose
and tomatoes and onions, lamb and steak are fried with a hiss
and in the traffic an angry speed-cop tries to retain his pose
when a minibus taxi almost runs him over, gives him a fright
at a flickering traffic light
and cars stream by into the coming night.
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.
Gert Strydom, 23 january 2013
Epitaph of a tyrant
Perfection he was after
but in his paintings,
there was none of it
just the lines of a third rate artist
and the human spirit, the minds
the heart of man
he new better than most
and talked and talked
and when he spoke
he dazzled them
and when the corporal
suddenly outranked every general
as commander of them all
swift action did he take
to conquer the whole of Europe
to send a superior air force,
his battle tanks out in a quick strike
even to venture as far
as the depths of Russia
and he held every single Jewish person
accountable for all errors of the past,
killing most of them
including men, women, children and babies
thinking that he could build a empire
that could last and last
and the poetry he invented
was brute force, by the barrel of a gun
and any manner of death and then some
but as with all tyrants
his end did come
and with his own hand
he killed his dog, his wife and took his own life.
Gert Strydom, 16 april 2012
To you who always are in my thoughts (English sonnet)
If our sweet love could not be compared,
if it could not by anything be quenched,
to love you so then I tried, I dared
without expecting to be recompensed,
maybe at the start I was much to bold ,
believing absurdly in sincerity
and I told you clearly what my heart hold
but now I need more than just charity
that with each other our intimate dealings
will be mature, be bound by the same spell,
that there will be magic in your feelings
not only kissing and wishing me well:
for far too many years you have been free.
If you honestly love me, then tell me.
Gert Strydom, 10 january 2012
Some silence hanged wordless between us
Next to a silver river, a clear stream
you were dreaming against a willow,
with a small smile, silent and satisfied
as if something great happened in the past
when your bright eyes suddenly caught mine,
words hang silently between us.
In your eyes light sparkled like stars,
a leave fell and glided away
when suddenly a plover called from the marsh
with others answering from far away
when your bright eyes suddenly caught mine,
words hang silently between us.
Where the water flows endlessly
you got quickly to your feet,
your glance went deep into my soul
and we could not evade our feelings,
when your bright eyes suddenly caught mine,
words hang silently between us.
Gert Strydom, 17 january 2012
With every sunny day coming in this summer
With every sunny day coming in this summer,
with each flower it’s as if God himself is here,
I find knowledge hidden between the flowers,
as something of Him, I became aware of Him,
there is rest with the sun in the blue sky,
I am not anxious; weavers are playing in the branches,
some are speckled, my life becomes serene,
in the outside air, even near the precipice
I feel healthy, as if He is bringing hope or life,
where birds are singing and every day is full of promises,
is full of love, with His love
that pierces everything, even the secrets of life.
Gert Strydom, 16 january 2012
Life is not what it seem (wreathed quatrains) (in answer to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
There’s nothing that can stop the sands of time
some lives sublime will face death on a day
nothing can stay, without reason or rhyme
existence does begrime, by destiny swept away;
great men play and live, leave prints in the sand,
they are grand, but they lead others to disaster,
as plaster impressions, difficult to understand
very underhand few can their tricks master
and faster life passes; it’s not what it seems;
as in a dream events are ever changing,
everything does not turnout as we do deem,
self-esteem does not always happiness bring,
even achieving and pursuing, may bring a end
in a world bend, while for justice we wait
with hate, on words and acts till we are spent,
while descent nothing is or even straight
.
but in our gait, if we do trust in God,
even if ungodly we act in recreation
on every occasion to the final sod
it’s quite odd, He brings a new creation.
[Reference: “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.]
Gert Strydom, 23 december 2011
When Christmas comes
When Christmas comes, while the flowers
here are blooming during summer,
I am astounded by the things
in the windows of the shops
and I am at times wondering
if everybody realizes what gift
You gave to the wide world,
with your coming as a insignificant human being
and I see people wishing each other well,
wishing a prosperous new year
and wonder if anybody still believes
in the salvation that You do bring,
if your crucifixion and the affliction of it
really pervades to humanity?
Gert Strydom, 4 june 2012
There is a land (cavatina)
There is a land of endless light, where night
never does come,
where spring and summer boundless stays in that
eternal home,
where love and delight only true joys bring,
where no fears roam;
in that bright place that brings eternal rest,
there is a God, that selfless loves me best.
Gert Strydom, 27 december 2011
When in history, stories and poems I read (Sonnet Corona)
(after William Shakespeare)
I
When in history, stories and poems I read
about the greatest, the most fair persons
with the remarkable lives they did lead,
of knights guarding ladies for some reasons
then in you my lovely darling princess,
I see in everything, even your brow
more beauty than pens of old did express
and in the lovely looks that are yours now
is such exceeding glorious, awesome grace,
that all declarations prefigure you
up to this very moment in time and space,
are just substitutes trying to hold true,
to you the world is waiting as if ready,
arise - walk into my arms, my lady.
II
Arise - walk into my arms, my lady,
rise up my beloved true companion
the hot bright summer sun is already
falling with a love filled emotion
on the pure white leaves of the lilies,
the finches are already twittering
the wind is passing quick like young fillies
and outside the entire world is stirring.
Rise up my sweetest white lovely rose
and awake to the blessed bright morning,
arise from you tranquil kind of repose
and experience the greatness of spring,
of everything that’s good, great and living,
hear the joyous songs, the alluring feeling.
III
Hear the joyous songs, the alluring feeling,
from what is held as a true loveliness,
others have just some features been stealing;
your looks, grace, personality do not digress.
Not doom or the evil works of destiny
can control each and every coming thing,
can totally control either you or me,
or the pure fountain from where all things spring.
Neither is my love for you controlled by
events, people or situations that impact on it
as I have many kinds of choices that lie
in my two hands, that changes bit by bit.
In all kinds of things I want to be true,
may my lines only express love to you.
IV
May my lines only express love to you,
tell no lies and not lack in sincerity
and whatever I now say and I do
become deeper and carry more integrity.
As constantly my love grows intense
and with time it becomes much clearer
that at no one else’s pain or expense,
that you are now becoming much dearer
than that what you used to be to me
and although I thought that no other love
could ever be more sincere and free
more intense, or could still more improve,
our love is better than only moments ago
while it still have hours, days and years to grow.
V
While it still have hours, days and years to grow
to our love, may these words be our monument,
may it in sincerity forever glow
may it stay, when everything else is spent.
These words are left by me as did others
but all of my sincere feelings for you
must not contain anything that bothers
as they are full of integrity and true
and we might only be like the moth and flame
attracted to light and differences
but the feelings still do remain the same,
which I do profane as does the consequences
and still I am just trying to stay true,
even in rout I keep honouring you.
VI
Even in rout I keep honouring you,
I who have nothing, but sincerity,
I must be able to find something true,
in the extreme darkness that surrounds me.
When I see the lights of heaven glancing
through your lovely clear sun filled eyes,
when you are smiling so all-embracing
I am not bothered by any cloudy skies.
When I was but still extremely young,
I walked through the veldt many a mile,
the loveliest sight did to the sky belong
while I was lost in its hot sunshine smile,
I was seeing the world through childlike eyes,
when I was sincere, stripped from lies.
VII
When I was sincere, stripped from lies;
I was wondering what to find in darkness
that is just as clear as the bright blue skies,
that is honourable, free from wickedness?
When most of my days are quickly rushing past
will you then as now, still truly love me,
in old age, when any day can be my last?
Will you still be happy, laugh joyously,
be here to keep me with sweet company
when I am broken by destiny in contrast
to the young man that I used to be,
when all of the good things in life do pass?
Will I then still feel your body’s true heat,
when in history, stories and poems I read?
Gert Strydom, 2 february 2012
I know the harsh wilderness (roundelay)
I know the harsh wilderness, the wild veldt,
the craggy hillocks I had at times beheld,
the wide open scorching cobalt-blue sky
but the tranquillity I cannot deny.
There are some aloes growing in the crags
their orange-red flowers waving like flags,
like old spots of blood dotted on the eye
but the tranquillity I cannot deny.
Sugar-bush and medlar in spring does flower,
while grass jumps knee-high after each shower,
up in the air falcons and eagles do fly
but the tranquillity I cannot deny.
Time has not influence on this rugged land
where high cliffs are between the grass and sand,
I had seen rock-rabbits run at a single cry
but the tranquillity I cannot deny.
Gert Strydom, 25 january 2012
Thunder (cinquain)
Thunder;
blue-white energy
flashing downward sizzling,
frightens everyone of blazing
flashes.
Gert Strydom, 2 october 2013
You did become
You did become flesh of my flesh,
spirit of my spirit
as you are in the deepest part of me
and I want it never to be different
Gert Strydom, 27 may 2014
The sun flees confused
The sun flees confused
but you are in my heart
and I am fulfilled this winter
while the winds are howling outside
and you do grow into me
while the clouds blot the sun out,
rain sieves down continually
and you do bless me with enthusiasm,
and of time I do not take any notice.
Gert Strydom, 29 may 2014
So that You do become much more than just a maybe
My Lord, today I do realize
that sin is a living reality,
that iniquity is present in my whole being
as if a union with the darkness
is hardwired in me from the beginning.
I ask You to come and live in my heart
and that You do become a living reality to me,
that you show me Your presence in the small things
and that You do shower Your blessings over my life,
that I can see Your presence daily
so that You do become much more than just a maybe.
Gert Strydom, 30 october 2013
At church square he stands
At church square he stands just in front of the steps
and the statue of old uncle Paul
with a guitar in his hand
in a torn dirty jean
and the wind flutters the old washed-out shirt
of the curly head blonde singer
and he looks dumbfounded.
He notices people walking past
to offices, busses and cars
(and some of them are chatting)
and only a few does notice him,
leave silver
and even a bank note in his hat.
In his memories he goes back
to a time with food in the house
and his mother and father that did love each other,
to a time when life was still simple and free
and his eyes catch a bolt of lightning
that flashes blue-white in an open sky
and he wonders if it is later going to rain
while he plays and sings a sad song.
Gert Strydom, 12 september 2013
In the late afternoon your words did become silent
In the late afternoon your words did become silent
and your movements were curtailed
as if you did not want to get up from the chair,
as if you did not want to leave me later
and outside the August wind stopped blowing
while we did say no words to each other
and outside the sun did shine
in a moment of great joy and pain
while we were clinging to each other
and the afternoon sun’s radiance did weaken
when it felt as if time poured into that moment
while time did linger but it was much too short
when everything for both of us came to a standstill
and in ecstasy we looked at each other
but in me this fear does remain
that no moment will ever again be like this.
Gert Strydom, 9 october 2013
The forsaking (Canzonetta)
(after Sir Thomas Wyatt)
She whom once did me seek flee away
and it is somewhat kind of strange to me
that something did change and she cannot stay
as if I have some kind of iniquity
while she hides behind a sweet kind of guise
and it is very strange this sad awakening
comes as a sudden kind of dim surprise
as there is much pain in the forsaking
and in the morning’s bright new day
she does continually want to be free
even the kind of music that she plays
has a kind of rebellion that I see,
when I do touch her, her arm hairs do rise
and all of this has me worried and thinking,
makes me cry right up to the red sunrise,
as there is much pain in the forsaking
and I will have her right back if I may
but that is not how things are going to be
while to another lover she is set to stray,
want to make me for her sake feel guilty
and to want her back, to stay is unwise
but terribly my heart keeps on aching
and of her intents I can just surmise,
as there is much pain in the forsaking.
[Reference: “The lover showeth how he is forsaken” “They flee from me that sometime did me seek” by Sir Thomas Wyatt.]
Gert Strydom, 24 april 2014
My Lord
My Lord, some people say that You do not exist,
that You and Your crucifixion and resurrection
is but a fable
Others see You as an inaccessible, cruel God
who sits unapproachable
as a age-old man on a throne
and then there are those that say
that you are female
and others that do believe
that every thing in nature
do possess a part of Your godliness
and they believe that at a time
a person becomes part of You and looses the own identity
and others do believe that you have extradited
an imperfect world to its own nemesis
and that You turn Your back constantly on everyone and everything
but I do know You, for who You really are,
do experience Your presence constantly
and in Your word there is another image
of love that is selfless that I do find
and I see someone that goes to broken persons
bringing healing, love and peace.
Gert Strydom, 21 september 2015
On this early summer evening
On this early summer evening
outside the fish and chips shop I stop
caught by the serene colours in the sky
of the setting sun, the hues
of yellow and orange flowing into pink,
the clouds hanging white
somewhat like patterns
or connecting pieces of a puzzle
against the dark and light blue sky
with rays shining through
giving brilliance to them
as if falling in spotlights
or in broad bands at places
with the sun finally becoming
a small glowing ball
just here and there
appearing through open patches
of the now darker clouds and sky.
Gert Strydom, 14 july 2014
When I did loose my heart to you
When I did loose my heart to you,
you did bring a change to my life
and to other people it was but insignificant
but every day it made me glad
and when I did hear your cheerful voice
my heart sang with joy.
When I did loose my heart to you,
you did bring a change to my life
and still you are enchanting me continually,
you are involved in everything that I do
and for you I want to help where I can
as my life do overflow with love for you.
When I did loose my heart to you,
you did bring a change to my life.
Gert Strydom, 7 august 2015
When I did search for the meaning of the word love
When I did search for the meaning of the word love
I could nowhere find an inclusive perfect definition
and yet I do know that it’s something that binds two persons,
that it’s something that is a kind of blessing or a curse
and the deeper I did investigate it the more I became aware
that it is something with the power to destroy
and disillusioned like a mere child I did realise
that each person is a character in God’s script
and when I did look deep in your eyes
I did see something moving in your heart
but even though sincere and fond a person can be
and even if those emotions did look like love
I did realise that love is decision of the will
without the impact of disillusionment or fear.
Gert Strydom, 5 june 2014
What does it help?
What does it help to ask
every priest, pastor, elder and deacon
to pray to God,
when God hears the prayer
of anyone that comes to Him?
Or do people think
that God is blind and deaf
or do demand one or other gesture
or act
before He does hear?
Gert Strydom, 28 october 2014
Early on a winter morning in Cape Town
Early on a winter morning in Cape Town
the rain is sieving down as it has done for days,
the sky is covered with grey clouds
and inside are you and I
cosily in a hot bed.
There are footsteps in the hallway
that sneaks to the room and two cold children
get into the bed with us
and when the big old clock strikes seven o’clock
its time to get up, to get ready
for work and school.
Gert Strydom, 22 february 2013
If everything that I do dream
If everything that I do dream
blows away to be nothing
then life devours me
and against destiny I am half-blinded;
in my body, soul and spirit a man
but in my heart I stay a child
that still does hope and trust on Your salvation
while I do try to keep myself on the right way.
Gert Strydom, 10 june 2013
Last night I could have sworn that I heard your name
Last night I could have sworn that I heard your name
in a song that the wind was singing
as past me in a cool breeze it came
and some of the branches of the trees were swinging
and it was as if it was softly whispering at times
of happy things, of other different climes
about the places where it had gone
and the wind blew on and on
and kept on blowing right into the new morn
Gert Strydom, 15 march 2013
On the plain (kwansaba)
On the plain a old lion searches
the world with his eyes and nose
before it stretch with nails spread out,
roars with thunder echoing over the cliffs,
causing the gazelle to tear away wildly
asking younger lions to come and fight,
while some cubs drink from their mother.
Gert Strydom, 14 march 2013
When the night sneaks near
When the night sneaks near
and suddenly comes almost unexpectedly
as if it’s a visitor
then you come and knock on my heart,
then you become the nearest star
when you steal the light from the moon
and it’s in your arms that I lay,
where I find my rest and peace
until the sunlight surprises us.
Gert Strydom, 14 march 2013
I need you
I need you,
I need you to think of me,
and in the darkness
I want to see your big shining eyes,
I want to feel your heart beating in your chest,
I want to quench my thirst of you,
I want to hear the tinkle of your laughter,
I want to feel you when we lay spooned together
and I do need you
to love me without any restraint.
Gert Strydom, 5 march 2013
Job
My name is Job and pain and suffering
should rather have been the meaning of it.
In the evenings I look up and search for meaning, even any kind,
and try to read the stars,
try to see Him from whom all things come
while I am still remaining in His service.
The festering wounds on my hands and feet break open
while in pain I walk along a dark road
and in a dream I see Him stretching out His hands to me,
hands on which painful scars are present.
Something breaks right through my thoughts
and when I awake above me the stars are glittering white,
in the moonlight the stars lie winking up to the horizon
but it’s as if a light falls down upon me
from the heavens,
as if in an embrace He draws me tightly against His chest.
Still I keep on trusting Him,
and continue to keep Him as the light that I strive after,
as the light of my life
and one morning when I awake all of cares suddenly disappear:
I see that my wife is pregnant when she walks up to me,
my friends bring me presents and flocks of live-stock,
I am cured overnight, with princes waiting to consult me
and then I become really prosperous.
Gert Strydom, 8 march 2013
For a while the autumn sun hovered
For a while the autumn sun
hovered like a fire ball
in the night sky
and the last
of summer’s heat
was still here.
Like leaves on a huge tree
the stars appeared on by one
filling the night sky
and amber lights started to glow
in the street and the evening’s serenity
unfolded like a big blanket
spreading out with the night.
Crickets started to shriek
and frogs started croaking
and a bright yellow moon
lit up the sky
and this night
there is only you and I
and its wonderful to be together.
Gert Strydom, 30 may 2013
On some South African Afrikaans published poets (Catena Rondo)
(after Roy Campbell)
They praise there own elitist workmanship
then write a poem over and over again
until only their tinkered out words remain,
they praise there own elitist workmanship
then write a poem over and over again,
struggle along for more than sixty times,
abandon all love and poetics that rhymes,
then write a poem over and over again
struggle along for more than sixty times,
they despise a poet whose words do flow
while they struggle to complete every row,
struggle along for more than sixty times
they despise a poet whose words do flow
says that he types faster than they can write
does not even know the very day from night;
they despise a poet whose words do flow
says that he types faster than they can write
while the very words of other poets they copy,
are sheltered, from the rest of humanity,
says that he types faster than they can write
while the very words of other poets they copy,
they are fishes swimming in the tiniest pond,
are scared of the great world lying beyond;
while the very words of other poets they copy
they are fishes swimming in the tiniest pond,
their work is without any kind of profundity
and sometimes on them I have a kind of pity,
they are fishes swimming in the tiniest pond,
their work is without any kind of profundity,
they praise there own elitist workmanship,
they want others them as gods to worship,
their work is without any kind of profundity,
they praise there own elitist workmanship
then write a poem over and over again
until only their tinkered out words remain,
they praise there own elitist workmanship.
[References: “On some South African novelists” and “On the same” by Roy Campbell.]
Gert Strydom, 12 march 2013
Strike of dustbin men
At the gate to the street
there are dustbins
and rubbish bags heaped up
and you have
to walk on the tar road
in order to pass
and it grieves me
that the municipality
now still cannot get this sorted out.
In town the rioters
pass under police escort
and rubbish is being dumped into the street
as if we are living
in the middle of a rubbish dump.
I have to swerve out
to avoid the rubbish
and the rioters are singing in revolt
and scream and shout jeering
and I see them throwing branches
and small trees
into the traffic
as if they have the right
to cause damage
and see the police
still keeping their distance.
Gert Strydom, 12 march 2013
He retched and almost choked in it
He retched and almost choked in it
and as the stinking bile
hit his throat
the dizziness of one too many whiskey’s
hit the mark
and he collapsed against
the chest of drawers.
His wife with her cold calculating eyes
reminded him of a dead fish
with a heart of cold stone
with lips pressed tightly together,
but there was something in the stare,
something that pierced him
and reminded him of the disgust
welling up in his spirit,
and erect she stood rocking the child
her nose inch up, as if he was below her
in each and every way
and anger gave power to his hands,
jerking a drawer out
he hurled it with great force
splintering the wood
against her head.
Like a animal that had its revenge
he was turning away
when out of the corner of his eye
he saw red blood
dripping from the forehead of his wife.
Drop by drop fell
on the baby boy’s shining hair
soaking through to the child’s scalp
and in fascination he looked on.
Gert Strydom, 1 march 2013
Totally alone on Clifton’s beach
Late at night while darkness was everywhere
the horn of a ship bellowed far away
in a sad sound that hanged on the waves
and now in the early morning we walk
totally alone on Clifton’s beach,
find here and there beautiful shells,
see waves curl and break,
hear some seagulls screeching
while water splashes foaming over our feet
where like children we draw our names in hearts
on the wet sand and we notice
the ocean were it stretches into endlessness,
when the streaming water
washes away every sign of our presence,
as we splash and go laughing, teasing much deeper
and under the hot sun that hangs on a cobalt sky
we are lingering for long moments,
are caught in our own world
and I wonder how to make this moment last forever
as it’s almost matchless
when our lips do find each others
and you embrace me with your hair
blown wildly by the wind,
while the sun blinds us.
Gert Strydom, 7 march 2013
A psalm in the twenty first century (virelay)
From light years far away in space and time
You are the architect
who takes care of a planet the size of a dime;
a far off small object.
You ordain our days and to us intimately connect
as a kind of loving being
giving sanctuary, even if crudely we do You reject,
with You are disagreeing.
Still You are protecting everything that is living,
constantly giving light
even to those who are in rebellion, unbelieving
who yearn for the night
and of Your kindness we do not have true sight,
we judge You incorrect
as a supreme being that rules by force and might,
giving You no respect.
Gert Strydom, 7 march 2013
Elementary thoughts
Humanly we leave words on paper,
while we try to determine the language
of Him who is the core of the Bible story.
*
We take things consisting out of flesh and blood,
that has got living energy, want to take the elements out,
while we search for the code of life in mortal material.
*
With our mental capacity we are valued equal
to animals that mutate
while the Bible teaches us about a creation story.
*
We think that we know the figure road of the universe,
compose theories that declare things in space
while amazed we do look at the great works of God.
*
Three dimensional we see things,
with length, breadth and depth in which things do fit,
while immaterial we do grope at the boundaries of love.
Gert Strydom, 6 march 2013
A prayer for the earth (rondine)
Lord, I ask for a place of peace and love
where nothing sharp or deep divides us,
where again man learn in only you to trust
where nothing could our joy and fun remove,
where every day our world we do improve
where the needs of others becomes obvious,.
Lord, I ask
that always in integrity we will move
from lives that are slowly turning to dust
while slowly, very slowly we do adjust
before nothing of this world is left over,
Lord, I ask…
Gert Strydom, 20 february 2013
The bit of time (Rondelet)
The bit of time
that together we both do spend,
the bit of time
still have some reason and some rhyme
as our love lasts and do not end,
it is godsend and it does bend
the bit of time.
Gert Strydom, 24 april 2013
Remind me
Remind me about how it once was
when we were newly in love,
about how neatly our lives fitted into each other’s
before the time when the hurting did begin.
Tell me about all the old stories and tales
that with time still does linger with me,
about fairies, dwarfs and angels
and a God that endlessly does love,
about dreams of travelling to distant countries
and some things you can even fabricate
before everything that is precious
is lost with the approach of time
and sometimes in this old world I feel as if I am lost
when my heart is constantly full of pain.
Gert Strydom, 4 february 2013
Behind your green-brown eyes
Behind your green-brown eyes
intense secrets do hide
where at first light
next to each other we lie whispering.
Outside doves
coo, woo and flutter
while a church-bell
calls out the time
when the sun loving like us
gives its last caress to the earth
and the moon’s soft satin
which is swallowed by the darkness of the night
becomes a memory of tonight
where it already hangs naked.
Gert Strydom, 12 february 2013
Near Helderberg Hill
There’s a chill tonight
on Helderberg Hill
an icy wind blows through the trees
and it’s raining still,
as it did for days
as it does each
and every Mediterranean winter.
The sweet scent
and not that of the forest of the trees
but of lavender instead is in the breeze
and fills my lungs, fills my heart, my head
until it becomes a part of me
but big eyed you lie
in the bed next to me
and the rain outside falls on and on
with fog cordoning off the hill,
the painting on the wall,
the garden with its bush upon bush
of waving lavender
are now all gone out of sight
and a solitary pistil awakens and grows in size,
entering a calyx, a tubular corolla forming two lips
and it could have been spring
as new life is sprouting, but a chilly winter it is
in the house near Helderberg Hill
Gert Strydom, 4 july 2013
This morning
This morning like every other one
you touch here and there in your preparations
and outside a myriad of sparrows fly past
when you put on the light and sleepy I open my eyes.
After a hot bath you comb your long hair
and you blush your cheeks and your lips get a bit of red
and in your bath water the tiredness of my body disappears
and to me even without makeup you are lovely.
Gert Strydom, 7 february 2013
To silence
At a hospital bed there are people praying
while they sit on hard benches like those that are harassed
and a pleasant little girl lies unconscious and soundless,
with her face behind a white mask of pain.
There are drops flowing into an intravenous apparatus, drop upon drop,
a monitor measuring her heartbeat constantly
and this picture I cannot forget,
as I see her frolicking past in my thoughts
with blue eyes that laugh full of joy,
like a ray of sun on each new morning,
as a picture of energy
and now she has gone to silence as if death is waiting.
Gert Strydom, 25 july 2016
At 52 the nuts of my country are stripped
At 52 the nuts of my country are stripped
so that nothing can fit together anymore
and everything in my world has changed.
At work I have been retrenched
and I can get no other work
in my profession
(for which a person does need a university degree
or two)
where the past of other people
is now catching up with me
as my country has experienced affirmative action
and that just for some people.
Some young people who are already mature
do attend church
but are not interested to be baptised,
do not even live out the principles
of that religion
and young girls in mini dresses
that is so short that you can see their panties
do lead out the song service from up front
and they do pray to daddy God
while a older gentleman
do scream in a black native language
on someone that whispers in an emergency during a service.
People do walk over others from their own people
to fit into the political correctness
where they work at the police or civil service
and the Yin-Yang (good and evil),
the point of view that every person is a god
and for others the prosperity religion
that does believe that those who are prosperous
are the only ones that are blessed by God
is very popular.
There are many old people who are an embarrassment
to their children,
and they are suffering from misery and poverty.
Some young children have got to wait a turn
to eat or not
and I do talk to God
over all of these things when I do kneel down to pray.
Gert Strydom, 14 march 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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.
Latest comments:
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
27 april 2024
"wszystkie modlitwy wymyślili grzesznicy"
27 april 2024
social-real. bardzo fajnie ujęte
26 april 2024
jeśli tylko
właśnie :)
26 april 2024
Adam Pietras (Barry Kant)
Dzięki, Violetta!
25 april 2024
violetta
Dziękuję:)
25 april 2024
Bociany są takie ufne:)
25 april 2024
Yaro
Bardzo kobiecy wiersz:) Pozdrawiam:)
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
24 april 2024
Satish Verma
23 april 2024
Adam Pietras (Barry Kant)
22 april 2024
Satish Verma