A Lamia In The Limpopo (Refrain Stanza Sequence) Poem by Gert Strydom

(after John Keats)

I
Long ago in far aeons when some fairy broods
came to dwell in the unspoilt green woods,
in the time of King Arthur's golden diadem,
when Excalibur glittered with its sole gem,
while farmers and merchants traded goods
unexpectedly Hermes he did again in love fell
with a nymph as if under a kind of spell,
again Hermes was in one of his foul moods,
came to dwell in the unspoilt green woods,

II
but like before to him she remained unseen,
for some reason to help her he was keen,
while again he heard a sorrowful wailing,
where something did in great sadness sing,
it felt to him as if she had never on the earth been,
again he found an enchanted spirit being
crying with human eyes in a snake head blue-green,
with silver moon shapes and peacock in-between,
for some reason to help her he was keen.

III
Sibilant the Lamia promised the nymph to find,
if Hermes gave her the ability to be a woman again,
was utterly lonely as the very last of her kind,
on his caduceus Hermes swore but a snake she did remain
but she gave sight and did put the hiding place in his mind,
and only if kissed on the mouth she would a lovely lady be,
the men she tried to enchant were many but a snake they did see
and in the Limpopo River softhearted she did unwind,
was utterly lonely as the very last of her kind.

IV
In the modern age she was afraid of being a sightseeing thing
as through time the words of men did painfully sting,
she came to a far off waterhole where she avoided every human
as in her mind she had become something hideous and inhuman,
was afraid of philosophers and scientists and their measuring
and yet of the heartache of another person she could tell
where a farmer and hunter did himself from humans expel
and lonely and very solitary he was living,
as through time the words of men did painfully sting.

V
At a time with his 30-08-calibre rifle he shot a crocodile
that sneaked up on him where he was thought stuck for a while
and as her only serious enemy this act did set her from all worry free.
Daily at the waterhole to his deceased wife he spoke and she knew his story,
even followed him unseen home for more than a mile,
realised that as a man he was decent and very nice
and really tempted she became and wanted him to entice
but one evening he saw a massive snake that wanted him to beguile,
that sneaked up on him where he was thought stuck for a while.

VI
It looked at him with human understanding soulful eyes,
it seemed as if in those eyes gentleness and a great sorrow lies.
"I must be either drunk or totally out of my mind."
Sibilant but clear she said:"no you are confused and very kind."
"You must be a demonic thing, surely today one of us dies? "
"I am not a demon nor a child eating blood sucking thing,
I am an enchanted spirit and if you kiss me a living human being."
He frowned:"the native water-snake that with great thunder flies."
It seemed as if in those eyes gentleness and a great sorrow lies.

VII
"My granddad talked about it and nobody after that thought he was fit
and yet here you are and kiss you I will if only for the thrill of it."
"Are you truly serious, " sibilant she did joyful in amazement hiss.
Another man might have reacted in another way but he did her kiss
and then stood totally motionless without words as if by lightning hit.
Transfigured he saw his wife who was lost in the river as a human
and if it really was her no one knows but he was a very happy man.
His words remained and with a glint in her eye she repeated them bit-by-bit:
"and yet here you are and kiss you I will if only for the thrill of it."

[References:"Lamia" by John Keats."Oor die seek'gat" (Over the hippopotamus-hole)by C. M. van den Heever. The short story:"A Lamia in the Cévennes" by A. S. Byatt.]

© Gert Strydom