Gert Strydom Poems

(after Breyten Breytenbach)

When the sun sets I wait upon my sweetheart
after office hours
...

Where you stand with the garden hose
a seed plume whirls
all around us on the afternoon breeze
and it waits hanging for moments,
...

In the morning when I draw my eyes to slits against the bright light
there is magic
that the new morning brings
while I know that I am really living
...

At times I wonder where her thoughts go
if of my loving, caring and commitment
she really truly knows
or is there a kind of excitement,
...

At the robot light I see a child
in dirty clothes and his hair blown by the wind,
his cheek is swollen from toothache
and where he is begging I wonder if he is going to find any help?
...

Early the morning dew shimmers
over the grass where over his eyes goes
where he is clinging to a branch
and his glance travels on and on
...

There is a seashell that on a time I want to give to you
wherein you can continually find the presence of the sea,
and it's something with the echo of the sea
and it roars on sunny days and during the stormy wind
...

Every morning her windows are washed clean
and they reflect the garden
in bright pieces of glass
and even the clouds disappearing in the distance.
...

when a blanket of frost covers the earth
then you and I still lie cosily
and tight against each other
...

When the roses do get new buds,
when the sparrows peck around
in the unexpected snow,
when later the wind howls icily around our house
...