Ballade Of Phil And Jill In The Big City Poem by Gert Strydom

(in answer to D. J. Opperman)

Past blocks of apartments where black whores do peer into the night
the rapid transit train did shake on its iron tracks
where it took me into the city's neon lights

Chorus:
but I do wonder what she will say
over what she wants in life and from me,
do know that everybody will have to report to Him
where the world does lie in the greatest darkness
as at a time the omnipotent God will come
and here in this world I am just astounded

past the zoo where the water glittered
and swans, wild goose and coots were swimming on a dam,
where one dived down and sank beneath the water

and out of the station I suddenly was with a multitude on the street
but at the park on the opposite side doves did peck at crumbs
and the narrowness, the scuttle of the city I did hate.

In front of a building with the logo of a gigantic steel-triangle
brick-a-braces and sweets were piled against a wall
where the head office of a newspaper looks like a real honeycomb

but inside the restaurant I did listen to the tranquil notes of a piano
while I did drink coca-cola die fold the serviette over time and again
where I was waiting on my girlfriend with a gift-wrapped in shiny-paper.

She did not come and when I did walk out there where thunder in my ears
from where labourers worked with electric chisels
with a orange-brown diesel power-generator roaring

while a cat scratched around in the garbage
outside between the cars at two fish and chips cafés
and from this buzz of the city I wanted to escape

to a place where roses, lilies and Margaret's do flower
as suddenly it was as if everything here was for me too much
but tired I walked on until I got to the play-park

where children and adults were screaming from the big wheel
and high almost in heaven hang above the earth
in a refreshment of spirit, body and soul

but when she did suddenly find me there I was off my guard,
we did kiss each other hello and did go and ride on the merry-go-round
but this one was different and from up high the lights was like a fairyland

where a fun-machine did bite with enormous jaws
that kept opening and closing and it did spit out sweets
but everything was tinned and at a cost

and when eventually we were on the ground again
she had to answer about her feelings for me
when I gave the gift to her as her property

where she cried with joy did cling to the engagement ring,
and much later after the cinema and dancing in my bedroom
her face was again wet with tears but now from pleasure

and we were bound together with love
when suddenly a helicopter did fly to and thro with a searching light
were looking for someone of something and did draw attention of all the dogs

and through the open window I smelled gardenia and the air was somewhat cool
while in the big old bath with candlelight she did run some more water
where my house felt like a place of heaven on earth,

as if our lives were fitting neatly into each other's
but then she screamed from terror and I found a bat
that flying round and round and then into her.

Again she did scream and it did come in through the window
and angry I grabbed that furry thing and tossed it out in the direction of the pear tree
but it shrilled and did hit a flower-bowl in which geraniums were flowering.

When I stood against her and she came naked and wet into my arms,
for moments I felt her scared heart beating and it was just she and I in the whole world
and wordless we stood for some time as if dumbfounded

while her wet arms were clinging to me in a embrace,
where with clothes she pulled me into the bath
and much later both of us got out.

In her eyes a new light was burning
outside the doves did coo and other birds did twitter
and there was joy, happiness and tranquillity on her face

but above us the Lord's starry wheel did turn,
outside all the barking dogs did calm down
and we did love each other with body, soul and spirit.

[Reference: "Ballade van die Grysland" (Ballad of the Greyland)by D. J. Opperman.]

© Gert Strydom