Gert Strydom Poems

Probius was whipped by guards until bloody,
then chained and locked in the dungeon
to convince him, to offer to gods
and when they saw him shaking with sheer pain
...

Next to an apple tree at a crossroad
a woman plays a song of love
which is swept away by the wind,
as she plays a cello at her thigh
...

who is dear to me
and whose thoughts
age tried to wipe out
and he looked at me
...

however events do touch you
you do still come through the throng
to places that your heart long to go

but still after loss
...

Children carry cellular phones and pistols,
chop others dead with swords,
are bladed by barbarians,
kill people of a different colour
...

Meters under the surface lies rocks that are rough, black and shining
where everything is caught in a twilight that trickles through from above,
where sea-grasses and bamboo gambols in the swell
when seekers with diving masks and oxygen swim still deeper,
...

There is a place where everything comes together,
where life comes to a kind of crossing point
where joy, pleasure and deep anguish
even every crisis does get an answer,
...

Almighty God who sets the ways of people
do You see, do You daily notice
how my people do suffer?

Are You aware of the old man begging in the street,
...

Your presence is a true delight,
just like the summer sun
where I am welcome at your door,
since our love has begun,
...

To some more a god than man
the hero walks in
with greatness depicted
in every move and stride
...