Little Harry (A Cautionary Tale)

Little Harry grew up to be a businessman,
one of those that make a profit in any way they can
and from the days of his youth
he was wheeling and dealing without a regard for truth.

At times he laughed with a sudden kind of glee
about other people's infirmity,
their trust and weakness of the mind
that helped him to play on them havoc of a certain kind.

Every afternoon at the close of day
he took his earnings, his shady profits away
and he would go out to dance
to find a girl with whom to romance

until the early morning light,
but at a time he became known as a predator of the night
as in relationships he treated girls just the same
as his customers and to him love, was just another game

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Does The Lotus Shrink Away For Everyone?

(after A.G. Visser)

Early every evening after I see my neighbour driving away
an expensive car stops on the sidewalk,
there’s an old legend that returns to me

when the sultan Mirza Khan goes on a pilgrimage
with many knights
on his way to Ispahan with his caravan

and he’s just left when the neighbour’s wife rushes past
without loosing a moment.
Early every evening after I see my neighbour driving away

where in the darkness of night he leaves
to be involved with his commitments
with many knights,

while the winter wind cuts through me,
the gaze of the neighbour’s wife chills the leaving car,

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

A brood of vipers

While working as a senior accountant
at the head office of a major worldwide religion:

I have seen colleagues
running to tell tales
which were fibs, slandering others
to get their own way,

using the name of God
in prayer and twisting
His arm,
to get their own way
as if their words are His,

(smiling in friendship
while stabbing the knife
in the back) ,

meddling with salaries and pensions
to defraud and decrease

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

On a spoor

We were hot on a fresh spoor
and the bushman tracker said
that the enemy were not far ahead

when we crossed through some dense bush
under some trees
and looking up I saw something on a branch

camouflaged, dappled into the shade
and yellow eyes peered down at me
filled with rage, with energy

and astounded more than anything
I brought the gun to bear,
but the pent up energy,

melted with languid grace
right into the tree
as if it wasn’t aware of me, aware of us

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Lucifer (in answer to N. P. van Wyk Louw)

Thus he rebelled without anyone stopping him,
wanted to put up his throne above, at times
equal to that of the almighty Creator
and approached others for this goal,
felt at times that his jealousy was noble
where he stood at the edge of the precipice
and thunder flashed ominous around him.

He dragged a third of once holy ones along
to all at once squander their lives,
joy, virtue and nobility
and along with them
later missed the glory, peace and love
of the heavens and knew
that he (the flaming son of the morning)
is trivial to the Most High (who is always honourable)
could not even stand in His shade
and through stars, he had torn, through the heavens
to declare war, as in his heart he wanted to win
as if insanity was eating through every reason and sensibility

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The grocery store

I drove my old blue
Honda CB900F motorbike to town,
took a small backpack along,

as I had to buy some Whiskas cat food,
the ginger coloured Persian likes
the blue marked kind that contains fish.

The small backpack had nothing in it,
was flat on my back,
the store had just opened

and I was in a hurry
to get to the Internet café
before the better computers were taken

by other customers
which would cause me to crawl along
on an old 486 dilapidated model.

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Perfect Girl

Maybe I will have to wait through aeons
to find her, to find the perfect girl
whose feelings reach out to me
softer than the fluttering of any butterfly
whose voice is crystal clear with an own loveliness
and at times she dwells in my dreams
walking at times covered in a white cloak
with slim feet and pearly white toes.

I have heard her sweet laughter
falling softly as snow
but covering me in a kind of warmth
that delights, that at times are amusing
at other times brings sheer tranquillity
and if she’s human or something of the divine
I do not really know
only that she is beyond beautiful

One night suddenly she appeared
in another kind of dream

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Lovely To His Eyes (Hybridanelle)

A farmer walks up to his horse and it is spring again
in the distance there’s ploughing red Massy Ferguson tractor
and he bridles the horse and there is pain

His son is out there tracking the field
seems young, vital and strong
and it’s as if he has now got to yield

and the earth is soft underfoot after the rain.
and he’s still the administrator.
A farmer walks up to his horse and it is spring again

and he still has some power to wield
and his eyes measure the ploughed field, the smell of fresh earth,
seems young, vital and strong

and he wonders how many years still remain
but the ache reminds him of the words of the doctor
and he bridles the horse and there is pain

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Fishing For Carp (Hybridanelle)

Fishing for carp, with a six-pack cooling in the river
and the ringhals till now with eyes brown and unaware
something makes a sound, a movement making you shiver

when on your right a banded spitting cobra appears
with the woman leaving to prepare sausage
when it immediately rears

and girly is ready with the food, ready to deliver
and it gives her a great scare.
Fishing for carp, with a six-pack cooling in the river

and in your mind you are crunching gears
and you wish for her to be anywhere, but right there,
with the woman leaving to prepare sausage

and you are angry at the old deceiver
while she brings a tray full of goodies with loving care,
something makes a sound, a movement making you shiver

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Grandpa Danie Brand [2]

After taking part
as a youngster of sixteen
in the second Anglo-Boer war
where he had to spend nights in the open veldt

fired so much on the British
that his hands were full of blisters
from the rifle
of which the barrel got white hot

he married Lenie Swanepoel in 1918,
was really in love with her
and from 1926 he farmed on the farm Welgemeen
near to Steekdoorns in the Vryburg district

where he himself build his own homestead
from Josef’s stone and put up fences
and turned the wild veldt
into a viable farm.

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!