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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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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.
Latest comments:
9 july 2025
violetta
Tak, tylko winko bezalkoholowe:)
9 july 2025
Belamonte/Senograsta
wisi, to był ten sam gagatek, chyba się opamiętał,
8 july 2025
jak ma na imie?
8 july 2025
jeden z nas
8 july 2025
nie da się
8 july 2025
Czego, piwa?:)
8 july 2025
Halki nie są aż takie cienkie:)
8 july 2025
No co ty:) nie akceptuję:)
8 july 2025
te diety są przerażające, gdzie zrozumienie
8 july 2025
wow. miałem kiedyś białą myszkę była wesoła
8 july 2025
i to jest piwołanie poety
8 july 2025
motyle moga nas opuścić i wtedy trzeba przejsc
10 july 2025
wiesiek
9 july 2025
wiesiek
8 july 2025
wiesiek
7 july 2025
jeśli tylko
5 july 2025
jeśli tylko
4 july 2025
Jaga
27 june 2025
Jaga
26 june 2025
Atanazy Pernat
23 june 2025
ajw
21 june 2025
Jaga