Life As Sand Poem by Goddo Faggotte

I have dug a coffin-trench in the
Ostrich-cursed dorbank of the Klein Karoo,
Compacted to red steel by the full gravitas
Of the brooding, darkness of the Swartberge.

I have struggled up the tiring gradient of
Witsand’s Droning Dune
Hissing in the heat like a gas-burner
(die gesuis van ‘n geelslang)
playing ‘Ou Ryperd’ in my ears as my
progress slipped away, back down in a
Silican Avalanche.

I sit atop the Sandstone Megalith
Bearing my name
I feel eponymous.
A million – no a billion – maybe a trillion
Grains are my seat
Where centuries ago, I sat watching
The dairy herds graze.

My reflections are memories
Rearranged genes,
Grains turned to stone
Seeming to form a table
mountain, on which my life
Is eroded to dust.