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Gert Strydom, 15 march 2013
A place in the sun
(in answer to Daleen Enslin-Strydom)
There are moments in every day
when the small things
that are happening brings
a sense of belonging
makes my thoughts, my longings stray,
to you and like a child
in faith, in trust
you are my hope, the one
when all other things are gone.
Sometimes it’s difficult to find tranquillity
to be the one that you expect me to be
but our love has got wings that overreach
each new tomorrow
and it goes far beyond sorrow and pain
we are no longer just each to each
and something does remain
something that is really great and sublime
as if from the first moment in time
we were created to be together
as if hard wired into our souls
we are to be never alone.
From far beyond the sun, stars,
planets and galaxies beyond the know universe
our time and place in the sun was set;
before we had even met
you were destined to be my wife
and I have know that a time will come
as if our being together was written in stone.
[Reference: “A place in the sun” by Daleen Enslin-Strydom.]
Gert Strydom, 11 march 2013
Another winter (imagism)
Biting coldness grabs me with rain on this winter night -
where I walk along the promenade
and the wind is alive
and grabs on to me and grabs me again
like a impudent child
and bleak-white a lightning bolt crashes down
and I smell the explosion of that intimacy
while the red face of the moon bursts out of the sea,
disappears and are again present,
like a swimming champion
that breaks through the water with breaststroke
and for moments I stand to watch the water
which is black, wild and stormy
like a very angry woman
and I hear the moaning of the wind,
while the stars peer at me through the wind tossed clouds
with strange earnest faces.
Gert Strydom, 23 december 2011
When Christmas comes
When Christmas comes, while the flowers
here are blooming during summer,
I am astounded by the things
in the windows of the shops
and I am at times wondering
if everybody realizes what gift
You gave to the wide world,
with your coming as a insignificant human being
and I see people wishing each other well,
wishing a prosperous new year
and wonder if anybody still believes
in the salvation that You do bring,
if your crucifixion and the affliction of it
really pervades to humanity?
Gert Strydom, 20 december 2011
The autumn is in the leaves
The autumn is in the leaves,
in the gestures of people,
when trees are already standing as skeletons,
the autumn is bringing pain
when the winter appears,
the stormy wind blows doors close
with spots of sun splashing down,
stripped trees are in their bark,
lonely I walk in the lane.
Gert Strydom, 5 december 2011
As long as there is love (in answer to William Shakespeare)
Your lovely countenance is brighter
than that worn by the hot summer season,
your purity, your integrity is much whiter
than the lily that dwindles without reason.
At a time all lovely things withers away,
disintegrate, weather, with age are frail,
to change are set and nothing can stay,
even seasons change as if they ail,
over time rhyme, poetry is not in vogue,
death removes, memories go to oblivion
people are forgotten, are out of dialogue
and even the greatest with time are gone
but as long as there is love, constantly,
your sheer beauty, men will in women see.
[Reference: “Sonnet XVIII Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” by William Shakespeare.]
Gert Strydom, 9 january 2012
Reconnaissance Commando night patrol (Novelinee)
Where enemy soldiers in tents do lie
in the darkness of night, the early hours
slowly, carefully we scout we sneak by,
pass fences, armed patrols, guard towers
and where they in bliss unaware sleep
during the midnight’s sombre icy chill
we reconnoitre, sabotage and peep
while they lie dreaming under wool and twill
we do apply our very special skills.
Gert Strydom, 22 may 2012
To me you are the sparkle
To me you are the sparkle when the morning comes,
the innocence that is hidden in every young child,
your love, your presence comes
like a butterfly’s fluttering flight.
As if we know each other a thousand years,
you fit perfect and wonderful into my life.
Gert Strydom, 16 december 2011
Commandant Gideon Scheepers [2]
Not only was he assassinated
as a ill man captured in the field
by a British firing squad
but was buried in the ground
in a grave unmarked
planted without a coffin,
buried like rubbish,
or rotting dead meat,
like weed
without anyone heeding
where they laid him down.
[References: The rank of Commandant is equivalent to that of Lieutenant Colonel. The heroic story of the Boer Commandant Gideon Scheepers during the second Anglo-Boer war that was captured while being ill in the veldt as a normal combatant, but treated like a rebel and shot by the British, who buried him in an unmarked hole in the ground.]
Gert Strydom, 1 august 2012
I know the way that you do smile (Trijan refrain)
I know the way that you do smile,
the crinkles of your lips,
how your golden eyes sparkle awhile,
the movement of your hips;
and we might have been together
might have really known each other
and we might have
and we might have
been gone away with another
I know the way that you do smile,
we are inseparable
as if walking together mile by mile
as if unbreakable
as friend to friend we do belong
through many years we are strong
as friend to friend,
as friend to friend
through years we had been all along
I know the way that you do smile,
as the years do move on
and not a single thing can beguile
our love till time is gone
as if our lives are somehow twin,
each newer life we do begin
as if our lives,
as if our lives
will somehow suddenly meddle in.
Gert Strydom, 8 january 2013
Maybe I come from a time
Maybe I come from a time
where things were better and different
than they are now
and still I keep believing and do trust
that every person deserves an own place in the sun.
Even when some of my wife’s family members
have been mowed down by criminals in a robbery
I still want to keep believing
in our country, in our time
some kind of change will come,
that people will grant each other a own free existence,
that the Lord God walks at the front of the road
to make it even
and that this is a year of prosperity and hope.
Gert Strydom, 9 july 2012
When I stand at the end of our love
(for A)
I
When I stand at the end of our love
that disappears as if the flame
of destiny determines our feelings
then you trample my humanity to its depths.
When that which we see as holy does go lost
it makes my wonder,
if we can find a place somewhere
without any suspicion
where things are peaceful and clear
where we both are stripped from others,
where you wait faithful
with every word and deed a small witness
that our feelings did not change
in the glittering night full of stars.
II
In the glittering night full of stars
I saw you for moments
held you tightly
with passion that could not wait,
you were mine through a summer day
as if you eternally true
would only keep to me
your eyes shone pretty like the stars
but now you are not there anymore
to reach for me,
and our time is past and forever finished,
the song of our lost love has finally been sung
and in the evenings I see your eyes gaze,
in the evenings the memories flare up.
III
In the evenings the memories flare up
with shining eyes full of deep meaning,
that which was between us was no secret
and the light of it circled out to others
but another came into our lives
making that which was pure and noble
trampled, lost and full of woe,
twisted away from all beauty,
broken to many pieces
and with painful suspicion and prayer
I wanted to spare our love from destruction,
I wanted our relationship to be restored,
wanted to rescue the beauty in its fullness;
I had to accept your free will.
IV
I had to accept your free will
and the feelings that we had
was suddenly broken and finished,
even the way we did live
but now I know that love does sometimes fail,
even when it’s seen as being eternal,
a person has sometimes got to experience pain
and heartache that falls like a lightning bolt
while that which was between us did perish
and I had to go on another way
that shines up to the highest heavens,
which God Himself sets out for me
and the break-up was your decision;
I wonder from where our love did come?
V
I wonder from where our love did come,
the feelings that once was between us
about the glittering eyes that met each other,
the beauty that almost was something Godly?
Somewhere that fire was distinguished,
was scorched, burnt to ashes,
you were infected by love for someone else
while you did leave me pain
and I wonder how your blushing cheeks,
the glittering fire in your eyes
could so easily catch me,
could bewitch me,
when your heart could despise me,
while that which was between us now fades.
VI
While that which was between us now fades.
to only broken memories,
into my lost ponderings
the branches of our spring is now sawn off
and the beauty did perish like it did please you,
with heartache that goes to the depths of the soul
and sometimes it feels as if this sadness goes wider,
as if these feelings go to other horizons
and the pain is like a falling drop
that in water circles out wider
and later the surface is without a crease
as it goes into oblivion
but memories do tell
you did once love me passionately.
VII
You did once love me passionately
with love in your eyes,
fire and electricity in every touch,
with the glory of rainbows
and now there is just scorn in your gaze
while I am a stranger,
while you are lost in the traps of life
and now you are wild like an animal
that preys and mangles and set selfish claims,
like a cat from hell that slyly steals upon me,
as if my love and tenderness does not count
as you sneak nearer with anger and destruction
but still life goes on at its time
when I stand at the end of our love
Gert Strydom, 20 september 2012
The dark night
The dark night
wants to enclose everything with her cloak,
the dark night
bewitches the moon that waits on her
to join her shining yellow gold
and jollily people come home from
the dark night
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, 4 july 2012
An ibis screeched outside in the garden
An ibis screeched outside
in the garden
suddenly slapped its big bronze-brown wings
and touched
by the frenzy you turned around,
without a word
pulled me deep into your arms,
suddenly you covered my face with kisses.
Gert Strydom, 30 october 2013
At church square he stands
At church square he stands just in front of the steps
and the statue of old uncle Paul
with a guitar in his hand
in a torn dirty jean
and the wind flutters the old washed-out shirt
of the curly head blonde singer
and he looks dumbfounded.
He notices people walking past
to offices, busses and cars
(and some of them are chatting)
and only a few does notice him,
leave silver
and even a bank note in his hat.
In his memories he goes back
to a time with food in the house
and his mother and father that did love each other,
to a time when life was still simple and free
and his eyes catch a bolt of lightning
that flashes blue-white in an open sky
and he wonders if it is later going to rain
while he plays and sings a sad song.
Gert Strydom, 14 february 2014
The windows was closed behind the curtains
The windows was closed behind the curtains
and shut out was the world, the night and the breeze
as if you and I was locked in
away from all heartache, pain and sin
and our loving did begin
with passion and a certain kind of ease
and of your love I was certain
while I did cling to you.
It was as if all good things were coming true,
as if all evil and everything that brought ill
had to wait until
out time together was spent
Gert Strydom, 14 march 2013
When the night sneaks near
When the night sneaks near
and suddenly comes almost unexpectedly
as if it’s a visitor
then you come and knock on my heart,
then you become the nearest star
when you steal the light from the moon
and it’s in your arms that I lay,
where I find my rest and peace
until the sunlight surprises us.
Gert Strydom, 28 march 2013
There is a place where everything comes together
There is a place where everything comes together,
where life comes to a kind of crossing point
where joy, pleasure and deep anguish
even every crisis does get an answer,
where the blood of God covers sin,
where man is not being forced to believe
but have got a own choice,
and the selfless love of God does comes free
and here where our earth
by our own choice has gone to tatters,
we that are mortal live like gods
until everything that is living wants to avoid us
and we are never without our own will
but in all of this we do loose God.
Gert Strydom, 8 february 2013
As the sun rises
While the sun rises and things
have shadows found,
so gently and by itself
love binds you and me
comes with a own sincerity
and brings joy, pain and bliss
while in integrity
you and I find how love really is.
Gert Strydom, 8 march 2013
Our love that was lost
Our love that was lost
has been again found,
but at a terrible cost
heartache drove me into the ground.
Our garden is again blossoming
while in love we carefully plant
kisses and caresses,
swear to each other to be true
and somehow I forever new
that this day of happiness would come,
even in the darkest night
dreamt of you.
Gert Strydom, 21 february 2013
I have to escape from the city’s roaring din
I have to escape from the city’s roaring din,
from the continuous rushing of hasty feet,
to a place of tranquillity that I do adore
where the breaking blue sea is rushing in,
far away from the crowded busy street
at the shelter of a snow-white pure shore.
Gert Strydom, 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, 1 march 2013
Everything else did cease (Berryian Poem)
In the sheer darkness, of a moonless night
in each other, we blended did not bother
to switch on, to find any source of light
our sighs, our moans we did not smother
all of our thoughts, our deeds were focused on delight.
Our love, our existence had a kind of blurring design
as if every strive, all the things that we held to life
in as single moment, we could find and refine
as if every passion, every kind of drive
were no longer separate, no longer only yours and mine.
We were living out, our endless dreams
love we did portray, in everything we did say
life was somehow not, as it usually seems
while we did kiss, romance and play
with our fantasies, moans and happy screams
while we searched, yearned for quick release
in a sheer moment, acted and did pretend
were searching happiness, some kind of peace
a kind of tranquility, serenity without an end
as if caught in each other, everything else did cease.
Gert Strydom, 14 march 2013
I need you
I need you,
I need you to think of me,
and in the darkness
I want to see your big shining eyes,
I want to feel your heart beating in your chest,
I want to quench my thirst of you,
I want to hear the tinkle of your laughter,
I want to feel you when we lay spooned together
and I do need you
to love me without any restraint.
Gert Strydom, 4 march 2013
There is something closing in this winter
(after Ernst van Heerden)
There is something closing in this winter
that suddenly appears
something sad, merciless, something not earned
which in each fallen leave, dead flower
carries death as if everything living
in a way is now handed over
as if customs, hope, convictions
are shredded in the coming darkness.
There are thunderbolts descending
and drawing blue-white lines
as if the Godly voice once again attempts
to awake everything
while any kind of sheltering
is swept away by the one natural disaster after the other
and man’s technological wonders are in vain
while the planet is busy changing
and manmade destruction is spreading throughout nature;
radioactive radiation, pollution and earthly heating
has a impact on everything that lives and animals and man begins to suffer
while extinction circles out wider and wider.
[Reference: Droë somer (Dry summer) by Ernst van Heerden.]
Gert Strydom, 13 march 2013
Seasons of life
I. Far too rapid (rondelet)
Far too rapid
the long hot summer days sweep past
Far too rapid
love turns to something insipid
and it’s as if spring cannot last
as life does end when days seems vast;
far too rapid...
II. There is a secret power (triolet)
There is a secret power
that pours down with the summer rain
and something special in every shower
There is a secret power
when flowers grow to loveliness in every bower
and with love their impressions do remain
There is a secret power
that pours down with the summer rain
III. Disablement
The garden is reflected in the bright window glass
while the summer rain is splashing down
and flowers swish to and thro, point upward
but they are gone in winter and in summer do reappear.
In this way you find a own kind of disablement
when it seems that a relationship only brings a kind of evil
as if love also at a time does reappear
as if it perishes in winter and in summer is bountiful again.
IV. While in seed hidden lies life’s awakening might (Rondel Prime)
When the irises flower purple, blue and white
early in the month of April
and they bloom lovely before the winter chill
then there is something special to each day and night
when the last heat is still in the sun’s light
before winter stretches out its hand over the dale and hill.
When the irises flower purple, blue and white
early in the month of April
then the early autumn is a colourful sight
as falling leaves does the countryside fill
before winter comes as it will
while in seed hidden lies life’s awakening might
when the irises flower purple, blue and white
early in the month of April
V. In winter
Stripped trees are each a mere skeleton
as if they are separated from each other
and starkly alone with branch
that reaches like fingers up to the heaven
while a strong wind devours the leaves,
lurching them away and spreading them everywhere
and still every tree remain near to each other
where you see them etched against the rising sun.
Sleep softly my darling
while the winter wind sings outside,
tries to come in like a wild animal,
as it rattles the windows of the entire house.
Lie cosily and in easy in our bed
while the rain sieves down
and the sun is stole
as if it’s lost for the whole of winter
and when the smell of new life
spreads softly through everything
and our hearts do jump with joy
under the anaesthetic of love
and I look to where your hair is spread out
like a dashing mane
with peace written over your entire face
[Remark: Please note that in the Northern and Southern hemispheres of earth the seasons are opposite from each other.]
Gert Strydom, 12 march 2013
I see a small shack
I see a small shack
with pumpkins and rock
on the tinplate roof
to keep it in place.
There’s fog hanging over the marsh
and the croaking of frogs
comes forth like a choir.
I smell rain
that suddenly is falling on the outside
and the smell rises from the red brown dust,
and I see thunderbolts
drawing blue lines
and I am well sheltered
against wind and rain
and around me
the maize fields are green
and I have found my own little Eden.
Gert Strydom, 12 march 2013
Strike of dustbin men
At the gate to the street
there are dustbins
and rubbish bags heaped up
and you have
to walk on the tar road
in order to pass
and it grieves me
that the municipality
now still cannot get this sorted out.
In town the rioters
pass under police escort
and rubbish is being dumped into the street
as if we are living
in the middle of a rubbish dump.
I have to swerve out
to avoid the rubbish
and the rioters are singing in revolt
and scream and shout jeering
and I see them throwing branches
and small trees
into the traffic
as if they have the right
to cause damage
and see the police
still keeping their distance.
Gert Strydom, 12 march 2013
He retched and almost choked in it
He retched and almost choked in it
and as the stinking bile
hit his throat
the dizziness of one too many whiskey’s
hit the mark
and he collapsed against
the chest of drawers.
His wife with her cold calculating eyes
reminded him of a dead fish
with a heart of cold stone
with lips pressed tightly together,
but there was something in the stare,
something that pierced him
and reminded him of the disgust
welling up in his spirit,
and erect she stood rocking the child
her nose inch up, as if he was below her
in each and every way
and anger gave power to his hands,
jerking a drawer out
he hurled it with great force
splintering the wood
against her head.
Like a animal that had its revenge
he was turning away
when out of the corner of his eye
he saw red blood
dripping from the forehead of his wife.
Drop by drop fell
on the baby boy’s shining hair
soaking through to the child’s scalp
and in fascination he looked on.
Latest comments:
1 may 2024
violetta
Tak;)
1 may 2024
kb
złotej*
1 may 2024
kontoler żłotej poświaty
1 may 2024
samo życie, każdy swoje brudy ma, lepsze czy
1 may 2024
romantyczny to romantyczny, prawdziwy taki
1 may 2024
ten ketchup to fakt, trzeba przypilnować przy
1 may 2024
interesujący przekaz, jak dla mnie o własnej
1 may 2024
jakby trzy style w jednej substancji :)
1 may 2024
ucieczka z przewidzianym powrotem to też stabilizacja...
29 april 2024
Nie jest niczym podyktowany:)
29 april 2024
sam53
nic nowego, wszystko mam pod kontrolą... tak
29 april 2024
a jak wygląda nieromantyczny pocałunek...?
1 may 2024
Satish Verma
30 april 2024
Satish Verma
29 april 2024
Satish Verma
28 april 2024
Jaga
28 april 2024
Satish Verma
27 april 2024
Jaga
27 april 2024
Satish Verma
26 april 2024
Satish Verma
25 april 2024
Satish Verma
24 april 2024
Satish Verma