The Ballade Of The Two Boer Horsemen Poem by Gert Strydom

(after I. D. du Plessis)

Dingaan lifted high both war-club and assegai
did not comprehend the disaster that he was bringing upon his own Zulus
roared: "Bulala amatakati" and later "Dingiswayo dinizulu"
when they sang their war cries to their gods

Chorus:
In the impi the blood-thirst was great
where in their need Piet Retief and his men prayed to God,
two Boers near the kraal realised that they have got to warn:
let no one alive, kill the wizards! "

While Dingaan's impi were busy with the cruel slaughtering
they jumped onto their horses, a roan and a chestnut,
did ride through the dark night trying to defy the evil impi
where constantly the impi were singing their murderous songs,

in the thousands Zulu soldiers were following the two men,
where with the Southern Cross they did find direction,
galloped through the rocky hillocks with sparks flying from the hoofs
but at first light the power of the roan horse was spent

and when the two Boers wanted to rest for a moment
they became aware of a horde of Zulus in a ditch
where assegais and war-clubs did surround them
they prayed and acted while trusting on God's mercy.

When the horseman on the chestnut horse did break through,
spears did pierce through both the other Boer and his roan
he screamed:"Ride. Tell about the slaughtering that is coming! "
Dying did talk to God

and the horseman on the chestnut rode as hard as he could
but thousands of black soldiers followed that man
where again they did surround him and he shot open a path
but two spears did pierce him and he banned the pain

while thundering the bleeding chestnut horse did gallop on
and all that remained was to give the warning
where nothing could stop that man and his horse,
not even the forces from hell

and a whole impi did not curtail that heroic Boer
where both horse and horseman at the wagons did fall,
some of the men came running up to him
and dying the message was given.

[Reference; "Ballade van die twee Boere" (Ballade of the two Boers)by I. D. du Plessis. "Voortrekker is a pioneer and it's a name given to the South African Dutch settlers, known as Boers or Afrikaners, in the Cape Colony (modern Cape Provinces)who migrated north into the interior of South Africa and away from Cape Colony and British rule in what became known as the Great Trek.Usually a kraal is a rural village but here it does refer to a large compound in which the Zulu king did live with some of his regiments of soldiers and his many wives. An assegai is a slender iron tipped spear of hard wood especially used by the South African native peoples.]

© Gert Strydom