Gert Strydom Poems

What kind of power did flow out of You
when mere speech did change into solid matter,
when light and gasses did suddenly appear,
when water did start to exist and spread
...

From before the beginning of time
You did already measure me out,
did determine my humanity and character.
You did know
...

You are always with me.
Lord, in this life and when I am dead,
in my iniquity and when from sin I am free,
You set my way on which I should go ahead
...

To me you were simply lovely
while your breasts were well proportioned
the world seems simple and we were free
and not a single further thing is to be mentioned.
...

Sometimes I visit in absence the Highveld
and in my thoughts
are jumping from rock to rock
where aloes flower orange,
...

On a road near a place called Hotazel
there were no trees,
just the flat openness of the great Karoo
and semi-acrid no stream
...

Just before the rain they fly twittering
until the drops start to splatter
and they have got to flee to their nests
before bolts of thunder can obliterate them.
...

You are gone from me
while the jacarandas are flowering purple-blue
and the reasons why echoes through my mind
while my days are running empty
...

from the rainy wind
and even the lightning bolts sound sad
but you have moved on
and incomprehension comes with a cold anguish.
...

not a thing can remove
you from all of my thoughts, your face
does there constantly rove
and in my heart there is no hate,
...