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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, 5 april 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, 6 april 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, 7 april 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, 8 april 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, 10 april 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, 11 april 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, 12 april 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, 13 april 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, 14 april 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, 15 april 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, 18 april 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, 19 april 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, 20 april 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, 21 april 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, 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.]
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, 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, 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, 18 july 2016
My dear loving God
My God, who does have comprehension
for each thought, for every thing
that goes through my head,
who attentive like a father does see
how I cry and at times do sing
I ask you, where I now stand at a crossroad,
where in brokenness I do wander away from your law
that softly you will lead me back to the right way
and if you have to admonish me at times with love,
that you will draw me nearer even if I am contaminated by darkness
and will bring me to a way out (past every earthly restriction)
that with love you will wrap your arms around me
and where at times I do fall
that you will still straighten my ways
and your attentive glance will remain upon me
although you are at the other side of the universe,
that you will touch my heart and my desires
so that at a time I will also find rest
in a world where there is constantly conflict and discord.
Gert Strydom, 19 july 2016
You must not show any fear
(in answer to Yehuda Amichai)
You must not show any fear,
and have to have a tan
even if not using
the malaria tablets
that causes you to burn spots
(which I take anyway),
scared of fever, weakness
and death that comes without it.
You must not show weakness
and I am showering
in a hedged off shelter
pulling the string
from a bagged bottle,
being afraid that all of the country,
will wash away into the dark.
In the daytime I walk patrols with special force soldiers,
sometimes are flown in by chopper in for hot pursuit
on enemy tracks,
some nights are dropped by parachute from very high,
but tonight while the moon is rising big and white,
huge enough to inspect
the dark ditches, the valleys in it
I am showering in the middle of nowhere
in a small military base
and after the battle I came crashing down,
crashing down in myself,
start retching,
shaking without anyone noticing
but are still dedicated to staying alive
and people think of it
as the ordinary soldier thing.
[Reference: “You Mustn't Show Weakness” by Yehuda Amichai.]
Gert Strydom, 20 july 2016
This morning the sky glitters blue
This morning the sky glitters blue
as if it is made
from lapis lazuli
with a deep azure colour
and I do wonder
to where the grey clouds of last night is gone
but the wind
that had blown them away
is also missing
and the fragrance of flowers
hangs sweet in the air
and it seems
as if it is going to be a nice hot day.
Gert Strydom, 21 july 2016
Warriors of the civil service
To where blankets hang during the afternoons
on the balconies of flats
to catch the last afternoon sun
a whole impi does return at nightfall
from where they daily sit in offices
behind desks,
of the new civil service the top product
with pens that scribble, scratch and screech on papers
and they make as if they are very busy,
do send citizens continually round and about
with there attention focused on the clock on the wall
and at five a clock they rush out in a throng,
together with each other in a ancient war dance
and before the sun sets they sing at the nearest bar
united in a wide semicircle
that makes the horns of the bull
while they manoeuvre and play,
do bet money on soccer teams
and just for pure fun
do shake dice and throw them out to roll.
Gert Strydom, 21 july 2016
Come to my flower garden
(After A. G. Visser)
Come in the spring and see my flower garden
when suddenly after the winter it bursts out in beauty,
when the roses do bud and later start flowering,
when the irises astound with all of their colours
and furtively morning glories trumpet forth the sun.
Come in the forenoon when a swarm of doves coo,
rejoice and flaunt and sing love songs to deep in the night
and daylilies open their cups yellow, orange and dark-red,
when the tiger lilies and gladiolas awaken after the winter
and the afternoon-ladies do peep at the sun.
Come in the afternoon when the jasmine, lavender and gardenia
carry their fragrances as they did in the early morning,
when the geraniums are full of flowers right up to winter
and the rain lilies flower in the purest white,
when the evening flower brings magic to the sultry nights.
Come at dusk when the sun sets over the hillocks,
when some flowers wait upon the arrival of the moon,
then find the magic that twilight brings
when the weaver, redbreast and sparrow do sing love songs
and you are surrounded by beauty from everywhere.
Come when the moon rises red and later becomes silver-white
when in longing I yearn to have you close
that you my darling can experience the magic of each flower cup
before they wither away with the course of time
and I can show you the loveliest of our flowers.
Come let us together experience the colours and fragrances
and in love and happiness visit and laugh
before the summer of our lives come to a end,
past the last years of old age
where only in thoughts we will have a piece of this paradise.
[Reference: “Rosa Rosarum” by A. G. Visser.]
Gert Strydom, 22 july 2016
Where star systems do disappear in the nought (sonnet)
Where star systems do disappear in the nought,
far away from our earth’s atmosphere
where nebulas, planets and stars shine
and dark holes absorbs everything near,
even past the burning jaws of hell
and where space does collapse into the abyss,
where solar systems form and get life
the omnipotent Lord God builds his fortress and His stronghold
and time, distance and space do make no difference to Him
when He comes to true salvation in the depth of distress
and His sovereign holy omnipotent righteous will
commands Armageddon and the jaws of death,
does order the spark that becomes thunder, the drops of rain
where on His judgement-seat He does judge and bless everything.
Gert Strydom, 24 july 2016
The beach, the morning
(in answer to Patrick Cullinan)
At early morning dawn
eighteen big busses appear
some with Putco, Morning Star
and others with Amagolang signs on them
and on their top roof racks.
Everything is loaded from blankets,
wheelbarrows, chicken coops to primus stoves.
Durban’s South beach, North Beach
and Country Club
are packed with a throng
of black tourists everywhere,
who unclothe right there in public
and swim in all colours of underpants,
in white, cream and pink bras and panties
with black nipples and private parts
shining through when wet
and some old black grannies fill bottles
with sea water and a bit of sand
believing that it’s good medicine
while some chickens
in a great tumult of noise
are brought out of a cage,
are beheaded with a shining axe,
are plucked and on tent poles
spit fried on the beach.
Some men and boys
pull their pants down
and urinate near to a water tap
while others wait in line
at the toilets which are filled
past capacity.
[Reference: “The beach, the evening” by Patrick Cullinan.]
Gert Strydom, 25 july 2016
A strange dream (triolet)
At night I have the strangest dream
where all of my hope is swept away
but everything is not how it does seem.
At night I have the strangest dream
but in love you do vow and deem
to love me past every night and day
but at night I have the strangest dream
where all of my hope is swept away
Gert Strydom, 4 august 2016
For now and for always
Will it last this romantic fantasy of shadow and light?
The crimson-red rising moon hangs low where we do walk
through this lovers-lane that it is making tonight.
You are right against me while of lasting love we talk.
Is it magic or a strange kind of reality
when your arms slip around my head,
when you do passionately kiss me
am I alive, in heaven or dead?
As if God on us does His blessing endow
when you promise to be my wife
your whole face does glow,
and this is a day in my and your life.
Gert Strydom, 26 july 2016
I yearn for the secrets of nature (sonnet)
I yearn for the secrets of nature
where wild game graze next to the dust road
and I long for the veldt where it is silent,
silent from the bustle of the city,
where the sky has an own blue hue,
where the rain comes in the afternoon with thundershowers
and you can see interesting things if you look carefully,
can be astonished by insects, animals and flowers
but in the city I hear the turbines of Impala platinum singing continually,
are choking from the coal smoke from the squatter camp that is nearby
and on the highway people are angry and cannot restrain themselves,
at factories in the distance I notice pollution and vapour,
the money machines at Carnival casino jingle without end
and on Friday afternoons the whistling of the alarms echo
when poisonous gasses and dangerous things build up at the factories
and it is at these times that I want to leave the city,
go back to the veldt where you can find the works of God
and be able to believe in Him with the faith of a child.
Gert Strydom, 27 july 2016
Holiday
When the sun does flower outside
the children want to rollick
but you are still asleep
and will not be ready for some time.
You are glued to the mirror
and with your DD-breasts you are too fat in your own mind
while you do look at yourself in your scanty bikini
where you do have a perfect figure.
On the beach I do apply sun-tanning lotion to your body
where you sit under the shading umbrella
while every man does watch you
and from behind sunglasses you do peep at the other people.
Every afternoon we eat at a restaurant
on the edge of the beach
where you order seafood and the children feast on their steaks
and you do regard the holiday as miserable
even when we do drive out to places
and the children want to stay forever at the sea.
Gert Strydom, 28 july 2016
Unknowing we may be living in a war zone
To the front in the road
blue Metro traffic cop lights flash,
a roadblock is set up and pistols
are aimed at the occupants of a car
in the bright daylight
and bombs are removed from the criminals
which the PCF-community guard report
was meant for the blowing up of teller machines.
An armoured car parks at a bank
where four guards with machineguns
and two with money canisters jump out
and one of them commands me to halt
when on the sidewalk I want to pass
and all of them become very angry
when I do not take notice of their antics
and screaming.
At times I do hear jets bursting through the sound barrier,
see the snow-white lines against the bright blue sky
when I hang the washing
and wait upon the winter sun to bake everything dry.
Right through the night my dogs bark
at a police helicopter
that swishes up and down
our well to do suburb
and it hits me when we drive into the garage at home
that unknowing we may be living in a war zone
but it is safe where we live
behind steel palisades, barred windows
and steel gates
with a emergency button to press
for the ADT-security’s armed response
that arrives within five minutes.
[Reference: PCF = Police Community Forum.]
Gert Strydom, 28 july 2016
There are people
(in answer to Mteto Mzongwana)
I am astonished at how things in the new South Africa do go forward,
see the mountain and places around Pretoria in flames,
hear a the ramble of a uprising at the universities where people are fighting
and others pray in groups for peace amid great suspicion.
At schools some girls are raped until they are pregnant
and Christian teachings are unknown,
boys are chopped with axes and swords and are bladed
and some children do disappear without a tract and are missing.
The false prophets in parliament keep telling people
how they create jobs,
that it goes well right through the country
and people are hungry, impoverished and at the portals of hell
because as in the far past crowds are coming from eMbo
(from every African country to the north)
under a new Nguni and Dlamini in a second great roving expedition,
while the country looks like Eden and a rainbow nation paradise
and everywhere there is racism and political correct fraud,
terrible unemployment
and in South Africa it goes far better than it ever has,
on the highways in Gauteng people pay e-tol
and most motorists are fed up with this new tax
where the other roads are full of potholes
and the conditions in state hospitals are terrifying.
l’Envoi
A poet must tell the truth
and cannot talk injustice, dilapidation and lies good
of a country that is sketched as ideal
but in reality is nothing but another rubbish heap state.
[Reference: ”Es daar mense” (There are people) by Mteto Mzongwana.]
Gert Strydom, 29 july 2016
Just for a moment it is there
Just for a moment it is there, the lightning bolt that falls
and the smell of something that burns and melts next to a puddle
from where the blue spark bright blinding touches and reach
and with a terrible thunder suddenly roars
with fear on the faces of my child, my wife
that just where I am standing
that lightning bolt does menacing fall.
In that moment’s blinding blue light
while a terrible rainstorm pours down
and I do shake like a reed
I do know that such moments does not linger
but you can take them out of your thoughts again
just like moments of bliss and happiness
where the touching, the colour, the sound and smell does remain
and etched you can find that moment again
from where like old letters you do fold them up and keep them in a small box.
When more lightning bolts slam down my ears are tingling and ringing
while I run to where the woman and child is waiting on the porch
and in the garden its twilight, almost night
where the woman and child are both crying from emotion.
Gert Strydom, 1 august 2016
In the garden (ABECEDARIUM)
Annoyed the small girl turns to him and says: “Oh no.”
Bees do fly around her in the garden.
Caesar stands in front of her
dangling a wooden sword in his hand,
eager to come to her defence.
Followers to come to their aid do not exist.
Great numbers of vicious bees want to sting them.
He hits a few as enemies down.
Ibises fly up frightened and screaming
just when a whole swarm of bees want to sting them.
Keen-witted he drags her away by the hand.
“Leave us alone you demons,” he screams.
More and more bees fly venomously nearer,
nowhere there is any escape
“Obviously we are going to loose this battle,” his princess says anxious.
Pacify they cannot the enemy. Who is the wretched
quisling that have betrayed them to the foes?
Racing, their hearts beat and they cannot guess while the enemy swish nearer
sting and buzz and they have got to
take defeat and fall back.
Unarmed against the enemy they flee to the protection of the
villa with its huge windows
where no bees can reach them and like a real
Xanthippe mother yells at them to get out of the
yard where it has become very dangerous.
Zulu, the Maltese poodle continually does howl outside.
Gert Strydom, 2 august 2016
Your walking away is measured in watt
Your walking away is measured in watt.
Not the 1100 p.m.p.o. of a door slamming shut behind you
that are opened and slammed again
but it is the pattering gait that just can be heard
and the whisper of satin
when you do go to our bedroom
and welcoming the door stays open
when continuously the fourteen-day rain does softly fall
and flames hiss at the fireplace and wood gleam red from the heat
while Steve Hofmeyer on the Kenwood music system
does sing sadly like Neil Diamond
and candles burn romantically at the bath
like a Jewish candlestick that welcomes the Sabbath
and does announce the beginning of the year of jubilee
where everything is again nice and right
to far into the future
and no children or grandchildren
do bring resistance in their visiting multitude
and you and I are alone
like Adam and Eve
when they did noticed each other for the first time.
Gert Strydom, 17 july 2016
Sad tidings
When uncle Henry
(who had been my father in law at the time)
did beat the last retreat
on the golf course
Riana & I had to hurry
to Barberton to mother in law
to assist with the funeral
and Riana & I had to constantly wash the dishes
and Riana & I had to prepare
food and refreshments
for the horde of guests
that came to the funeral,
we had to help with the funeral letter,
go along to the veterinarian
with the beloved dog of the deceased
and I had to dig a grave for that poor animal
as for that old madam
(who had been my mother in law)
the poor dog had to be buried as well
on the day that I helped to carry her husband’s coffin
to his grave.
Gert Strydom, 15 july 2016
Morning
When the early morning rays
captured the dawn sky
and it seemed
as if it is going to be another hot day
and the sun was changing from red to white
while trees did push up their fingers into the blue,
while the smell of flowers
did hang in a cloak around you
you did sit with me
and your eyes did distribute many kisses.
Gert Strydom, 14 july 2016
Mirror image
Maybe it is a problem
that I am robust, purposeful and independent
as I can be no mirror
that only does reflect
your own humanity, your own thoughts
and what man is
frozen & stainless & mute
& shut & transparent & servile
& distant & aplanatic
in how he does exist
and at times
it’s as if you do view me like a mirror
when you comb your hair in front of me
does unclothe and stretch out your body
and do think that your nakedness,
the glance in your eyes,
the expression on your face,
your legs and arms
and your breasts
do leave no impression upon me.
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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 7 july 2016
The peach tree
During the yellow-brown autumn season
leaves rain down in golden squiggles
retaining their own kind of smell,
as if the tree is still cherishing them
while the fallen leaves are turned into foil.
Plundered and stripped to a skeleton
the tree retains the revivalist energy
and in the beginning of spring
it is covered with new flowers
and with leaves that are appearing
Gert Strydom, 8 july 2016
At times we are only set on passing (American sonnet)
At times we are only set on passing,
without any place to stop or call home
and then we miss the smallest little things,
while it feels as if we do not belong,
as we are set, forever more to roam
as if we hear faint whisperings among
a myriad of people, with dusty loam
that sticks and clings to our very feet
and then we miss the small bird’s happy song,
see unfamiliar faces in those we meet,
in life we are constantly swept along,
as if the ocean has only some foam
and to it there is nothing really sweet,
at times we are only set on passing.
Gert Strydom, 10 july 2016
Respite
When the winter chill comes
with the transience
of each beautiful flower
in a own vulnerability
the winter rain pours down
as a kind of respite
for a time on every one.
Gert Strydom, 11 july 2016
Divorce
Too suddenly our time has passed,
memories do constantly
cling to me,
the things that is intimate between us
does not want to end easily,
there is treason in each word,
with dividing the only thing on which we do agree,
secretive your paramour waits
at whom I stare hostilely
as if I feel like killing him.
Gert Strydom, 12 july 2016
Divorce II (cavatina)
I am grieved at that what you did do,
amiss our love
have been trampled into the very mud,
as to remove
that which had close bonded the two of us;
I disapprove,
calling upon all that is still holy,
as you are treating me very lowly.
Gert Strydom, 12 july 2016
Divorce III
When something did happen to my darling,
when wire upon wire
she die remove her web
and it had been over another man
the pain did let me forget
of how special it had been
to be loved by her
and as if there had never been
something beautiful between us
I wanted to find a thousand reasons
that it’s better
that she is out of my life.
Gert Strydom, 12 july 2016
Divorce IV (Espinela)
Suddenly recalling the past,
as coming to life from within,
I dream of you against my skin,
feelings are in sheer contrast
but the summer days cannot last,
far too swift comes the early night
with flames dancing in the firelight,
I am lonely at the fireplace
while I remember your sweet face,
that disappears, are gone from sight.
Gert Strydom, 12 july 2016
Divorce V
When shattered our love
brought my world to pieces
from the fifteenth flour I looked to the sky above
saw below how the size of things with height decreases,
saw my wife embrace her lover,
thought of getting all things over
and my broken life and my fallen pride
rushed through my head,
with thoughts of suicide
and being dead
but somehow these thoughts were mad,
I did not think that she was really worth it
and although I was shattered and sad,
I walked away from the precipice bit by bit.
Gert Strydom, 13 july 2016
The sun hangs orange red
The sun hangs orange red
for moments
like the smashing sound of a gong
in the air
before it becomes white hot,
the screaming of plovers hover
long and stretched out
just as if somebody
has discovered their nests
and the black-collard barbet knocks
outside on the window
as if it wants to come in
and while I am still laying in bed
the world turns
and the new morning starts
outside around me.
Gert Strydom, 2 august 2016
The temptation of being near to her
There is something in how she looks at me and looks away again
and I think aloud Satan, Lucifer, demon, devil be gone
as she is going to seduce me with her summer sunshine laughter
in the twilight, dark night or bright day
with her eyes that glitter when she notices me
and I wonder if God does provide such lovely girls
with her walking away that continually whispers promises
and her voice that falls sweetly on my ear
but when she stands right in front of me
and talks to me my breath is taken away
and I notice a small muscle jumping, jumping in her throat
and her snow-white teeth, her hands, freckles and feet is something
against which I do not know how to resist
and then she brings her lips right against mine.
Gert Strydom, 4 april 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, 14 october 2015
A pastor
(after A.G. Visser)
At a time he could preach interesting,
could hold the mind of every person from the pulpit
but now that he is preaching words that have no power
people do wonder about his relationship with God.
[Reference: “’n Predikant” (A pastor) by A.G. Visser.]
Gert Strydom, 12 november 2015
Maybe 4
Maybe a new tomorrow is just a wish
where everything will be better
without any pain or fear
and maybe you can get
a prospect
of a place where everything is better
where people live together in happiness and peace
and where there is more than just forgiveness
where people do continually astound you
and love comes to meaning and reality.
Gert Strydom, 13 november 2015
Cry
(after N.P. van Wyk Louw)
Into loneliness
caught between the silences
of four walls
I did hang your paintings.
For a while I was captured
in our past,
but do now realise
that no light shines upon my hope
and do throw the hope, longing,
pain and even the heartache
into the darkness of the night
so that only the moon
and stars are witnesses
of that which at a time had been between us.
[Reference: “Skreeu” (Shout) by N.P. van Wyk Louw.]
Gert Strydom, 16 november 2015
Child
At a time I was to you like a god,
could do nothing wrong in your eyes
and my car was far better than any other
but somehow somewhere something did change
and you did become distant as if I am a stranger,
as if you do not want to know me anymore
but at times you do still look at me,
want me to help you with your problems
and sometimes you do turn up the volume
of your music system to the very limit
and people have to avoid your room
but just when I thought that our relationship was coming to an end
I heard you say to your friends at the swimming pool
that I am the greatest dad in the entire world.
Gert Strydom, 5 december 2015
At dusk
I
Memories of the past day do flood my mind
and my whole world has changed from what it was before.
I see a movement at the window’s blind,
hear you walk on the wooden floor past the door
but thought struck pass the world rushes on
and the setting sun says that the day is gone.
II
At twilight my study is a peaceful place
and you walk in with a bright smile on your face
and the tranquillity is no longer mine
but outside nature is at rest as if touched by the divine
and inside it’s only you and I
while the first stars do touch a pitch black sky.
Gert Strydom, 6 december 2015
When the front door
When the front door does close behind you
and the house awaits me without a sound
when some of the furniture is missing
and does leave open space and no children do laugh
then I will try to forget you
and hear the dogs howling heart broken
but in my heart I will know
that something of our love is still hiding there
and I will keep longing
as if seeing you again
just depends on the next moment
but know that the goodbye
does remain the reality between us
without reconciliation between you and me.
Gert Strydom, 7 december 2015
Would my words
Would my words keep filling you with hope
and would you still stay true to me
although time passes in years
while your humanity feels sold out?
Would I still be able to trust you
and hold you tight
when the vortex of life wants to swallow me
and will we still be able to built a life together
when my career is falling apart
and the thunder of destiny does lash out around me
and I have lost every friend
and stand alone in the entire universe?
Or do you live in a world with hues of grey
while I still proof true to you?
Gert Strydom, 8 december 2015
The red arum lilies
The red arum lilies that I did bring to you
you pressed into the ground at the garden-flat
as if you wanted to forget me
and when we later did marry and live together
you found those flowers again,
did know of a better place for them
and pulled them one after the other out of the ground
and planted them at the palisades in a row.
Gert Strydom, 9 december 2015
Field of maize
Maybe you do remember a field of maize
that stretches into the distance
where your father did take you by the hand
and at times did draw his fingers through your hair
where the memories do remain
in the thoughts of a child
from the cares of the world free
with hair blown into strings by the wind
but constantly you do live in a world of glass, steal and concrete
and forgotten are the days in the bright summer sun
but in our garden there is a flower
that looks like corn
where it comes out of the earth
and later does dazzle with amaryllis flowers.
Gert Strydom, 10 december 2015
No other painting
I also wanted to see your beautiful fairies
and when you painted one it was a reality to me
but when it got a name
coincidence was a maybe
and that painting was my property
but when you did cut it up and burn it
I was upset, angry and you were impudent and stupid-cocky
and I totally astonished
and no other painting could match that one.
Gert Strydom, 11 december 2015
I gave my love to you
(after Christina Rossetti)
I gave my love to you,
but to my heart
you did not want to be true
and from my love you did part
and to me for reasons unknown
you viewed my love as childish, told me to wait
you made my enemy your own
and my heart was thrown to the whims of fate.
With my shattered heart to Him I did come
and found some solitude,
from all my wandering a home
and although my heart was marred and crude
His love was selfless
and His power filled my nothingness.
[Reference: “Twice” by Christina Rossetti.]
Gert Strydom, 14 december 2015
While the year hangs skeleton
While the year hangs skeleton
in this winter
there are sparrows, starlings
and doves catching my eyes
and from somewhere
a squadron of weavers suddenly does arrive
that descends on the seed
that I have spread
like a hungry crowd out of the sky
that does sing jubilant
while they eat the seed
and I know
that the Lord does also
stretch out His hand
with wonderful things for me.
Gert Strydom, 16 december 2015
Something about a bird in a tree
I. Solitary
There’s a solitary bird
sitting in the berry tree
as if watching me
and every now and then
pecks a few, before looking again
and it comes daily
and maybe now
sees me as its friend
and I watch it eating
with the sun glittering
on its green feathers
and its long tail
swishing up and down
and when I look away
I do hear it calling, calling
as if trying to attract my attention
as if seeing me looking
holds something of company for it.
II. The going
Why did you not make me aware
that never again
I would see you there
in the berry tree
from early morning
singing from dawn to dusk.
You were chirping and indifferently fluttering
like every other day
and I did not realise
that you were going away
with the setting sun
and now any movement
in the berry tree
catches me to see you,
but only to realize
that a sparrow
is also hungry.
Gert Strydom, 17 december 2015
One Military Hospital
At Klipdrift military base
just outside Potchefstroom
where now the kaki bush,
other weeds and grass are knee high
through ash holes, rubbish, broken glass
barbwire, tins and stones we went
with fire in movement exercises
and live ammunition fired over us.
We ran, cat walked, leopard crawled
and was sent to and fro
with bullets hitting up dust around us
and some grenades were tossed
a distance away.
The very next day my left knee
was busted good and well
and when I reported sick
the PTI-corporal
almost busted his gut
and touched the crossed swords
on his arms
and told me if by any chance
I came out of the sickbay that day
he would see to it
that I would really take a beating.
The doctor at the sickbay,
called in another one
and yet another one
and the three of them
didn’t want to treat me
and said that there was a big chance
of me losing my knee
which was swollen like a rugby ball
and they sent me by ambulance
straight to One Military Hospital
at Voortrekkerhoogte in Pretoria.
I was wheeled into casualties,
where I had to wait some time
while shot up people
flown in straight from the war
was treated first.
When they finally got to me
they took one look at the leg
and wheeled me into
an operating theatre
where they asked
if I wanted to walk again?
I just said heal me
and they removed my uniform,
strapped me down
with bands around my feet
hands and legs
and gave two injections
just above the knee cap
and said that it was local anaesthetic
but wouldn’t help much
and that nothing would really
take the pain away
of the next procedure.
They pushed a big syringe
with a large needle
in under my knee cap
and the pain was great
as they pulled out puss
but I didn’t make a sound
while tears of pain
were in my eyes.
The laboratory identified
the infection that I had
and they said that I have got
septic arthritis
and everything was swell
while I got a drip
with the right antibiotics
and some pain killers,
watched television from a set
on the wall,
had my own radio
to choose music from
and could even order
from a menu
and it was like staying
in a great hotel
where they fixed me properly
and after two weeks
that was like a holiday
I walked out of there.
[PTI=Physical training instructor.]
Gert Strydom, 18 december 2015
Inside you and I dance
The flames in the fireplace make tongues
and we are dancing slowly
while the candles are burning intimately
and are throwing long shadows
and your eyes glow large,
you look innocent
and it does feel as if the whole world
is laying open before us
and I feel the artery
beating in your neck,
your perfume fills my nose
and there is something very deep
that I do read in your golden eyes.
Outside the branches of the avocado tree
Is beating on the roof
and time is busy
growing its own wings
but inside you and I dance
as if free from all things.
Gert Strydom, 20 december 2015
At night the mind plays its tricks
At night the mind plays its tricks
reliving situations from days gone bye
as soon as there’s darkness in the sky
and sleep heavies the eyes
dreams bring out their gimmicks
of loves lost and wars past
but I would rather dream
of only you
of the sky blue
and how lovely it is
to be true
and trying to make it last.
Gert Strydom, 21 december 2015
I had dreamt of you
I had dreamt of you
living in a world
where skies are always blue
and you loved me
with a kind of sincerity
and we had much joy
as just a girl and a boy,
had a kind of innocence
while our thoughts
whirled up like incense.
Your smile radiated like the sun
while you loved me like your only one
and our companionship was sweet
while butterflies fluttered at our feet.
You kissed me with sheer bliss
and there was magic in this
but I had to go then
back to the world of men
as promises I had to keep
in a world full of pain and strive
and I was devoid of further sleep,
I was devoid from you in my life.
Gert Strydom, 12 november 2015
Maybe 3
Maybe we both will be lost
in the back streets of Paris,
or will take a taxi
in the narrow streets of Spain?
Maybe we will rather have to go
to Uvongo or Margate,
or to somewhere on the South Coast
or at Stilbaai or further on
to walk beaches full of tracks,
to experience the wind, the sun and sea,
to know each other better and walk together,
to burn to the colour of a wild olive tree
or if you do really want to
we could ask that strange thing
that hangs flashing in the sky
to take us away to Mars?
Gert Strydom, 12 november 2015
Maybe 2
Maybe I will never have any children
and your children that I regard as my own
who constantly demolish me with their words
and try to overwhelm my life with violence and force
may stop and maybe you will lie against me
to procreate a new life during this pregnant night
or maybe I will have to wait forever
on small bare feet to totter
or maybe between the white and black
I will have to hope constantly on conversion
and keep looking for grey arias in the depths of my heart
as maybe things will change with the passing of time
or maybe I do need only to write these words down
and have got to forget of a child with eyes and a body.
Gert Strydom, 11 november 2015
To be us
You are so much a part of me
that I do not have to remember
where you fit into my life
and are not able to forget
my feelings for you
and as each day passes
the small little things
brings us still closer
with feelings that are true.
Loving comes so easily
like rain falling from the sky
and the you and I
are truly blessed to be us.
Gert Strydom, 14 october 2015
Hecuba
(after Petra Muller)
Who passes on the sidewalk she wants to grab,
wants to bite the postman’s arm right off,
motorbikes and bicycles she wants to catch
and every newspaper delivery man
and so the yard is guarded faithfully
from strange criminals that do sneak about and strange cats,
where she snarls at the dogs next door,
but when it’s full moon
she wants to get on her hind legs,
while she cries like a cruel wolf
while her head is jerked back
and there is nothing in the street that draws her attention.
[Reference: “Hekuba, die teef” (Hecuba, the bitch) by Petra Müller.]
Gert Strydom, 15 october 2015
It is a pitch-dark night
It is a pitch-dark night
as if sky is filled with tar
and just here and there I notice stars
and we cat-sneak around
in a dark enemy camp
right through some thorn trees.
The moon is not yet out
and I am freezing before
I pass through a bare open piece of veldt
and it’s as if the backpack
does not sit right
and the web belt is scraping against me.
Around us there are guards
that we have difficulty noticing
until one of them lights a cigarette
and the blue flame
does suddenly brighten his face
and he is just a few paces away
from where we are.
Suddenly we do notice
other guards, lights
and vehicles
that drives up and down
and when a light
suddenly is switched off in front of us
I can hear my own heart beating
in my ears
and we try
to melt
into the long grass
and are aware of a vehicle
that leaves a road and are driving into our direction
and we want to cock our weapons
but we are too near to
the enemy guards
and between two of them
when that vehicle
does drive up to them.
We leopard crawl
to the shelter of few bushes
to escape the light
of the vehicle
and we can swear
that they did notice us.
Carefully I draw the knife
out of my boot
and when the vehicle does stop
between the guards
we both we both cock our rifles
which we aim at the enemy.
One of the soldiers
who climbs out of the vehicle
walks right into our direction
and the lights of the vehicle
lets him look like an apparition
in the way
that he walks closer
and we both do know
that this is trouble.
The man gets still closer
and I can hear
his boots crunch
over the small bushes and sand
where he stops
between the two of us
and he has got to be a Cuban
as I smell a Havana cigar
on which he sucks enthusiastic
and the knife feels cold in my hand
while he does unbutton his pants
and he has got to be night blind
as he is not aware of us
while I smell the salty odour
of his urine.
It feels like an eternity
before he turns around
and talking in Spanish walks back
and the vehicle
does depart a while later.
Gert Strydom, 16 october 2015
Baby lies so fast asleep
Baby lies so fast asleep
that I dare not take her
into my arms,
too big the chance to wake her.
Rosy cheeks and a raspberry mouth
like a little angel, a sweet delight
but she’s someone else’s.
Sometimes at night
nothing can cuddle her tears away
and a shrill little voice
hangs in the air, piercing the darkness
cutting right until day
and those are the times
that mothers and fathers do pray.
Gert Strydom, 16 october 2015
A child is a strange thing
A child is a strange thing
that does take your most expensive books,
to stain them with his own drawings
and here and there words are twisted
and when that boy did find some of my first poems
he did write love poems for his girlfriend
and it was my own words with which he was wooing
that he did write down word upon word
and that file of mine was just gone
until I did find it beneath his bed
and to his mother those poems were inane, foolish and bad
but not for that child
and I wonder what he now does think of my verses,
if at times he still does place my words in his own ink?
Gert Strydom, 16 october 2015
Walls
(In answer to W.E.G. Louw)
We did receive this country as property
that we did rather live in
as to conquer with a flint lock rifle
and we came to the open wide veldt,
did erect walls
to hold out the enemy, the predator
and the baboon,
did create cultivated fields,
even at places
where crops do not really belong,
out of our own crops of maize, wheat
and cattle did live, did map down a piece of land,
until Ratel armoured cars, Olifant main battle tanks
and Mirage fighter planes
did have to stop the enemy that were surrounding us,
where we did won battle upon battle and did destroy the Cubans
and a bald headed man did bring about great calamity,
where his brothers cannot anymore eat a piece of own bread,
where he did create beggars out of the Afrikaner nation,
did forget of the right of existence of his own brothers
and all walls do decay
and foreigners from right over Africa do stream in.
[Reference: “Mure” (Walls) by W.E.G. Louw.]
Gert Strydom, 18 october 2015
I love you
More than words can say
are the feelings
that lies deep in my heart
and although you tell me
about the intensity of your feelings,
there are no words
that can carry mine to you
as I do love you
more intensely than the bright sun,
more than the grains of sand
that you can hold in your hand,
deeper than the bright blue ocean,
past the distance of the most far off star
and when you are close
with your arms wrapped in love around me
my breath is taken away
and it feels as if eternally
I can bind my life to yours
as I do love you
with feelings up to now unknown
and the glance in your eyes,
the smile on your face
has got a sparkle that goes right through me.
There is electricity every time
that your hand touches mine
and like two love struck teenagers we are infected
with something that no other people has got,
with passion that keeps starting afresh,
with a flame that can never be smothered.
Gert Strydom, 19 october 2015
The small redbreast sings and dances
The small redbreast sings and dances
up and down, up and down
while it is longing for the rain
and under the tree my two dogs are barking,
are jumping to try and catch that bird
and it’s a curious kind of thing
but the small redbreast is not disturbed
until the first lightning bolt comes
and great drops of rain pour down around him.
Gert Strydom, 19 october 2015
After the farm invasions in Zimbabwe
The violent dispossession of farms
in Zimbabwe
is seen by some people as lawlessness (1)
and that it only is the consequence
of ethnic and racial hatred that is present
where the state does collapse, (2)
where lawful authority does lack
and that nothing else is hidden
beyond those occurrences
but when you look deeper
into all of this
facts do come to light
that is utterly disturbing.
It is a known fact
that the ruler in Zimbabwe
that has been voted out but still does rule
Robert Mugabe
is a Jesuit (3) (4) (5)
in the Roman Catholic Church
and that church
believes in the natural law
as had been set out by Thomas Aquinas
in his Summa Theologiae (6)
and everywhere where the state and church
had been one throughout history
there had been grave danger
as during the dark ages
where people had been executed
for that in which they do believe.
According to this natural law
possessions like farms, houses
cars and even tools
is being seen as only
in the title belonging to the owner
but that the community
has got the right of the use of it
above the owner
and even the violent dispossession
of such property
by the community
is justified.
[Footnotes:
(1) “ná grond-invasions in Zimbabwe” (After ther ground-invasions in Zimbabwe)” by Antjie Krog.
(2) “There is one type of fear more devastating in its impact than any other: the systematic fear that arises when a state begins to collapse. Ethnic hatred is the result of the terror that arises when legitimate authority disintegrates.” Michael Ignatieff: Blood and Belonging – Croatia and Serbia.
(3) “The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J., SJ or SI) is a male religious congregation of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits.” O'Malley, John W., ed. (2006). "The Formula of the Institute (p. XXXV)". Jesuits 2 (2nd ed.). Toronto:University of Toronto Press.
(4) “Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born near the Kutama Jesuit Mission in the Zvimba District northwest of Salisbury, in Southern Rhodesia, to a Malawian father, Gabriel Matibili, and a Shona mother, Bona, both Roman Catholic. He was the third of six children. He had two older brothers, Michael (1919–34) and Raphael. Both his older brothers died when he was young, leaving Robert and his younger brother, Donato (1926–2007), and two younger sisters – Sabina and Bridgette.” Mugabe mourns reclusive brother". newzimbabwe.com. 11 December 2009. Retrieved 4 August2013.
(5) “Mugabe was raised as a Roman Catholic, studying in Marist Brothers and Jesuit schools, including the exclusive Kutama College, headed by an Irish priest, Father Jerome O'Hea, who took him under his wing. Through his youth, Mugabe was never socially popular nor physically active and spent most of his time with the priests or his mother when he was not reading in the school's libraries. He was described as never playing with other children but enjoying his own company. "Robert Mugabe: The man behind the fist".The Economist. 29 March 2007.
(6) The Papal Encyclical: “Rerum Novarum:” “Goods of some are due to others by the natural law. There is no sin if the poor take the goods of their neighbours. In cases of need, all things are common property, for the need has made it common. Not only is such taking of another’s property not a sin, it is not even crime. It is lawful for a man to succour his own need by means of another’s property by taking either openly or secretly, nor is this properly speaking, theft or robbery. It is not theft, properly speaking to take secretly and use another’s property in a case of extreme need, because that which he takes for the support of his own life becomes his own property by reason of that need. In a case of a like need a man may also take secretly another’s property to succour his neighbour’s need.” Summa Theologiae ii-ii 7th Article by Thomas Aquinas”
Poet’s note: This verse illustrates how easily man can make mistakes, where the church and state is one. Anyone who reads this verse as an assault on the Roman Catholic Church misinterprets it.]
Gert Strydom, 20 october 2015
There is a time when night sneaks in
There is a time when night sneaks in,
when the roof creaks, while losing its heat
when chairs, tables, cupboards and all objects
become indistinct
part of the darkness of the night
and then my love
it’s a magical thing
to have your hot body against mine,
to feel you’re lips brushing on my skin
to become enveloped by you
as if everything is away
in a different reality.
Gert Strydom, 2 november 2015
The fallen Cuban soldier
Your body lies shattered on the veldt
in the long rust brown winter grass
where you are almost devoured
and half burned
where you did fall out of a battle tank
when that deadly projectile did hit
and the blue sky, the wind that blows lightly at times
now has no impact on you
and scavengers will bring your bones to skeleton,
where you do have nothing left of life
and in Cuba the great leader will roll another fat cigar,
will draw his cheeks full in pleasure of it
and still your wife will remember you
while life does rush on.
Gert Strydom, 3 november 2015
With self contempt I stand in the veldt
(after Rudolf Otto Wierner)
With self contempt I stand in the veldt
and each heroic act
is just another task that destiny does demand
that does not make me greater than others
and the hunger to kill
flows on and forth
while war machinery
does sing in a deadly choir
and the rifle in my hands
that point to the enemy
is stripped from any language
but death that it brings about
and the knowledge does intrude
that still it brings destruction
[Reference: “Hungerblümchen” by Rudolf Otto Wierner.]
Gert Strydom, 4 november 2015
My small Jack Russell dog
My small Jack Russell dog sniffs around
on the ground
to find something nice to eat
or some other kind of meat
and a paper blows in the wind
but it does not bother her at all
where she is standing over something small
Gert Strydom, 5 november 2015
The crumbling man
It’s as if my whole life is breaking in pieces
and all around me I see some of the pieces lying
without the opportunity to do anything about it
as if the new government of the country
and destiny together
does tear my career apart
and from one contract to the next
I do jump
like pieces of a puzzle that are getting less
and when there are no more pieces
I am alone and extradited
as if nothing more
can fit into
my puzzle.
Gert Strydom, 6 november 2015
While everything is turning brown outside
While everything is turning brown outside
and this winter is getting its grip
you are still
the most beautiful flower in my garden,
and your fragrance stays in my thoughts with me,
while I hear your voice
by playing your songs over and over again
and I wish that I could steal you,
could transplant to be here with me.
Gert Strydom, 9 november 2015
I do love Africa
I do love Africa
and although my predecessors
did pay with their blood
to be able to live here
there is no fear in me
even when shots were fired
as somewhere the signs of the white
is thundered into the ground
as if coming from heaven itself
and although some black rises
through the red-brown dust
and is present in drums
when indunas dance with their spears around fires
and although everywhere there are hungry people
that has been broken by poverty,
and people are praying for rain
while the desert is stretching wide
I still want to remain in my Africa
as after more than three hundred years
even if culture and language
leaves its own mark
we are without any colour
with the sand being blown by the same winds
and only people,
visitors to this
incredible continent
that does belong to all the children that she brings forth.
Gert Strydom, 10 november 2015
Photocopy machine
You lightning flash a moment
like a laser beam,
the image of my piece of paper
is taken off
and while you grumble
you spit it out at one side
and can make innumerable more
while most people view you
as a exceptional wonderful thing
but when you do get tired
and eat papers
people have to gut them out
from somewhere deep
in your intestines.
Gert Strydom, 22 december 2015
Where are we now?
There had been a night
that the darkness
did really shake her cloak
and hundreds of stars
fell out of the heaven
drawing lines in the sky,
the moon did hang red like blood
and blotted with the sun
in did flee away into the darkness
and people did notice these things,
did trust in the predictions
about these events
as if the coming of the Master
is right at the door
and sometimes I do wonder
when I look at this old world:
where are we now?
Gert Strydom, 23 december 2015
Last night I dreamt of you
Last night I dreamt of you,
waking up in sorrow
from a fitful sleep
while you slowly faded away
like the night
with the beginning of the new day
and there was rain pattering down,
with a fresh smell
almost like that of making love
with clouds milling in the sky above
and every now and then
a thunder cracked down
blazing with intense light
and I thought that your smell,
the warmth of your body
was still lingering,
was still here with me in the room
and I walked into the cold wet night
to bathe my face and body,
to get my head clear
and still you felt near.
Gert Strydom, 2 march 2016
Some times
Some times I wonder if God only knows
how I struggle in the depth of my throes
to find the right clear words to express love to you
while I do take destiny’s blows
and even if I say with all humility
that you are far more than dear to me
my words are totally stripped
as if from all meaning free
and yet I do still try to write
as to express my true heart I might.
Gert Strydom, 3 march 2016
How chilly like winter
How chilly like winter have you been
with emotions of love stripped in the bud
and what dark unpleasant experiences I have seen
as if what love had been between us had been cut
and nothing of the laughter and light that I had seen at a time
was left as if it had been killed by decease.
You are happy as when our love had been at its prime
when you do talk and act with a kind of ease
as if of those happy days there are to be many more,
as if you do not want to be from this relationship free,
as if I am the only one that you do adore
and I do wonder what is to be
while in my heart there is a kind of fear
when in the evening to me you do draw near.
Gert Strydom, 4 march 2016
When from me she is out of sight
When from me she is out of sight
in my innermost mind
her eyes do burn bright
and I do constantly find
some thoughts of her, of her great grace,
as if in the depths of my soul she does glow,
as if each expression of her face
I do intimately know
and yet at times it seems that I do know her not,
that knowing her breaks my heart and takes a lot
but still the emotions of her eyes
in my inner thoughts never dies.
Gert Strydom, 7 march 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.
Gert Strydom, 8 march 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.
Latest comments:
12 may 2024
Melancthe
Kajzerki są przereklamowane ;)
11 may 2024
kb
wielki wypas - był albo może będzie. kto wie...
11 may 2024
sama prawda z tym myśleniem i psoceniem ale
11 may 2024
zastanowiło mnie czy owe cenienie kajzerek wynika
11 may 2024
jeśli tylko
skomponowane kolorystycznie..
11 may 2024
violetta
To co te kozy dziobią i dlaczego? Co na to aktywiści?
10 may 2024
Jaga
Podobne miałam odczucia, kiedy zobaczyłam wyspę.
10 may 2024
Weronika
Nie wyrzucaj. Niech to będzie memento dla naszej
10 may 2024
W tym sęk, że tam gdzie one się pasą nie
10 may 2024
Wyjadają ostatnie źdźbła:)
10 may 2024
I pomyśleć, że w rzeczy samej podobno Bóg
10 may 2024
To prawda, jest częścią natury :) Dziękuję
11 may 2024
Satish Verma
10 may 2024
Jaga
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Satish Verma
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wiesiek
8 may 2024
wiesiek
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Satish Verma
7 may 2024
wiesiek
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Satish Verma
5 may 2024
Satish Verma
4 may 2024
kalik