Gert Strydom Poems

I

Why did the chrysanthemum wait long
to open it's quivering twisted rays?
When other flowers are gone it grows strong
in these much more colder wintry days
...

That night thunder flash after thunder flash
roared blood red,
I could smell scorched flesh, saw the havoc
of the burnt dead,
...

Time locks everything at a time
and with time many things heal
and even pain and sorrow disappear,
but it has no sense
...

Now the writing is on the wall
and with the umpteenth killing
a know leader is dead
and dishonoured in hatred
...

Zero divided by one is zero,
but it bothered me
from my first conception
of mathematics
...

I see men standing next to each other
in a line
and they wear yellow and green.
...

There are few things that bother as much
as to look for you car
and almost to count the other car’s,
when you come round a corner
...

(after W.B. Yeats)

I will take my things and go,
go to the wild coast
...

In the early morning light
where the light is hazy
the house in the street stand trembling
between jacarandas that flower purple
...

It is a kitchen with a big settee,
and big old coal and wood stove,
a big table where the whole extended family
ate great meals, sat chatting for hours
...