In This Stretched Out Country Poem by Gert Strydom

many an Afrikaner is stranded
and we are all bound to the ground
to a place that at times wound us deadly

but daily we do still see the sun shine,
do notice how the late afternoon does disappear
and at night the stars glisten in their beauty
before the next sunny day.

Some people still live with integrity
in love, sadness and in joy
in a world where murder and robbery
reach each one at a time,
where every silent word and deed do reach out far

and people also want a place in the sun,
want to rest in peace at night in their beds
but still every day is full of oppression and violence
and nobody is free of this.