Schapensrust - Where We Lived [revised] Poem by Margaret Alice Second

Memories of Ria and Susan living on that plot, washing
my uncle’s car, he in the house busy cleaning a train set
with miniature trees, laying railway track and laughing as
the steaming locomotive clattered through the tunnel

Susan strumming her guitar, singing Sloop John B in a
rich, sonorous voice - Ria singing descant perfectly, my
brother singing Old River Steamboat Number One while
yodelling to Pook-chook-chook; - a back-flash

To when we were small, four-year olds at the same low
coffee table for music lessons where I studied composers
in my high-school years; later Gerhard a skinny six-year-
old sitting at breakfast - then I was at least twenty

Quite envied him when his mother asked what he wanted
to eat, we were five kids and there was no time to cater for
personal preference - Gerhard grew up on the same plot in
Schapensrust where we lived, went to the same high school

Which is changed into a college today; Gerhard’s gentle joie
de vivre, kindness and happy smile remind me of my train-
set uncle delighting in banjo’s and toys so much…

21 October 2013