Sheep-Killer
The sheep farmer's old black collie
had a ebony-tipped nose
that was turning grey,
as the specks on its paws
from the years under the elements
and a fog was hanging on the hill
when he undid the chain
and the far off bleating of the ewes
could be heard from the hill
and the farmer told the dog to gather them in,
to round them up and bring them down
to the corral
and with its normal pace,
no hurry in its trot the old hound
went off to do its task
disappearing in the mist,
past the paddocks
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poem by Gert Strydom
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Prayer for a ruined earth
I. You that are almighty
At the beginning You that are almighty
spoke mighty words,
reaching Your hands out to the darkness
and defined the existence of all things
letting light come out of total darkness
with the first morning breaking
causing stars, comets and planets to break free out of nothing
and with Your immeasurable power and knowledge
caused life to come forth from the nought
forming man to your own image
and long before this,
even before the fall of man, forgiveness already existed,
You had already decided
in love for the sake of man, on Your own death sentence.
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poem by Gert Strydom
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Sonnets to someone special
I. There was a time
In the past there was a time
when magic was everywhere around me
and the loving between us
seemed so strong
as if it could outlast
even life itself
making moments sublime
and through the years
I have loved other girls
but never as deep as then
and no relationship was as enchanting
as with you
and no woman was as smitten with me
as when we were young at university.
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poem by Gert Strydom
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Monstrosities That I Observe Among Christians
I. It’s a monstrosity that some people believe
It’s a monstrosity that some people believe
that a deadly illness,
poverty, loss of a job and income
and every disaster that happens daily to people
results from their sin,
where people live outside the hand of God
and when I think about a one-year-old child
that is dying of cancer,
see how people that were wealthy
now is on the street,
it reminds me about Job,
while there is still trust and hope
in the biggest darkness.
II. That the eating of meat is sin
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poem by Gert Strydom
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Nights and days (in answer to T.S. Eliot)
I
The summer day draws to a end
with its last light spent
with blaring television sets,
at the racetrack, people checking their last bets
children playing in passageways
that had seen better days
and in city block after city block
with flower pots being displayed
on balconies
the rain patters down
and time stretches to seven o’clock
in another rundown town
where vagrants stand under trees in vacant lots
trying to shelter against the rainy breeze
as human beings with spirits, stripped gone
when the streetlamps go on
one after another first flickering
and prostitutes indiscreetly start to walk the streets
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poem by Gert Strydom
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a Brave Boer boy
At Italeni the bushes come alive
and abound with a horde of Zulu’s,
of which the spears glitter
and some are at the peak
of a hillock
and others on the plane.
Blood and fat
are spread over their faces
and they are raging
and in a blood thirsty trance
and scream luring
and tipple with a ritteltit war dance
and clubs and shields,
are thrown into the air
while spears flash into the air.
In the cloudless blue sky
an eagle flies past screaming,
while Boer horsemen
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My buddies (a reply to Boris Slutsky)
All young white men at a time
was forced into the military, into war
or had to serve a three year jail term
and most of my buddies came home,
but some did not:
Parachuting into a enemy camp
there was one close friend that died,
the other three I hardly knew
and to the government it was
an incidental small thing against
seven hundred and fifty
enemy SWAPO and Cuban casualties
and on one patrol one close buddy
stepped on a landmine
were blown up and no one else was hurt,
and to the government it was
an incidental small thing against
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When times are bad
When times are bad
and I am with my hands in my hair
and black foreigners from all over Africa
overnight becomes citizens
and have more rights as a citizen than me
and affirmative action
puts her claws into my life
then I wonder about justice
and when merit and experience
will ever again apply
where my ancestors Joost Strydom
from Liefenshoek in the Netherlands
as a merchant seaman of the VOC
in 1678 came to Cape Town,
married his pretty well know wife
Maryna Ras who with a horse
could alone ride days long to Cape Town
with whom noblemen tried to have relationships,
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Home invasion in Springs
Masked like the black criminals
that robs you of your car
and just there and there promises you death,
they arrived
with a mini bus taxi on the farm,
drove right through the farm gate
and at the front door
jumped out of the kombi
with five steps intruded into the house
to bring death to the farmer,
to rape the wife
and daughter.
The farmer heard the crash
at the gate,
he realized that it was big trouble
heard them in their own language command
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Punishment parade
I was in residence in Salisbury house
at the private university
lying at the foot
of Helderberg mountain
when in my fourth year
somebody with a master key
broke in to my room
stole clothes
and some bottles of cool drink
and even took a cake
out of the refrigerator.
Nols, a first year friend,
who was studying the same degree
was fresh out of the army
where he had been a lieutenant
and caught the thief red handed
stealing from his room
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