Gert Strydom Poems

1 In the High-Veldt (Fatima stanza sonnet)

Then the fourteen-day rain sieved down,
by the wind broken branches were left behind
...

Bit by bit you give me your heart
and the days come full of love and sorrow,
where constantly I do long for you,
while for many days we do live separate.
...

In the lock-down living in the same town
deep in memory I am lost in you glance,
while outside the thunder and rain comes down.
Its strange how little things do your face enhance,
...

At Ballito the sun burns ultraviolet,
pierce through the ocean's navy-blue,
where I have a picture of your body
and do remember that summer so very clearly.
...

No one could a time just as this one foresee
where during a lock-down I would miss you so,
are by government restricted to you to go,
where from this virus there is nowhere to flee
...

On 22 May 2019 two black men with rifles in their hands
jumped over the bladed-wire fence and entered the property.
When I confronted them at the front door they were impudent and insolent
and I saw some more men and on a brain wave slammed the door shut,
...

Look my love; I send to you the red sun,
that looks red-eyed in the morning and late afternoon
and brightly over your skin bake down intimately,
that you do day upon day see wherever you are.
...

As bright as the biggest star
in that dark night,
your smile lasted
much longer
...

It’s only one day
and I see you again
and the weekend
passed much too soon
...

It’s only one day
and I see you again
and your big golden eyes,
are burning in my mind.
...