Ominous The Branches Knock Poem by Gert Strydom

Ominous the branches
of the giant avocado tree do knock
on the roof
and in the silver moonlight
its clear outside and I see something
like a spectre moving past.

Outside there is ‘n loud bang
when at the porch close to the front of the house
something falls and does hit the ground
and I am wide-awake,
do wonder if it might be a burglar
that wanted to climb on the roof,
to come in through the roof tiles.

Immediately I jump out of the bed
while the dogs are barking angrily outside,
I grab the survival knife
(hat some soldiers do carry in their boots)
as the police had taken both my pistol
and shotgun with the new laws
and I do not have money
for the new license procedures.

My darling is ready
to press the emergency button
of the armed reaction
at the alarm system
when with the knife in my hand
I do dare it to go outside.

The dogs become silent when they notice me
and the street is deserted,
only a big branch lies near the porch
where unexpectedly
it had broken from the tree

with broken avocados
laying everywhere
which the dogs do carry away
as their delicacies
and when I go back to sleep

I do know that the newspaper headlines
will report on a break-in, murder
and rape
at another place
as we do live in a country
where nobody's life is safe.