When Life Quivers In The Evening Air Poem by Gert Strydom

(after Ena Murray)

When life quivers in the evening air
when the voices of antelope, jackals and hyena
cuts through the evening
and the roar of a male lion
resounds like thunder from beyond the nearest hillock,
then I notice you with the eyes of a gazelle
where you look at the wilderness around us
and I know how afraid you have suddenly become
when the bonfire flares up with sudden flames
and the heartbeat of that which is life
and the waiting, lingering, sneaking death
are almost tangible
as if it wants to cling to you,
while life and death are woven into each other.