Hiking To Durban Poem by Gert Strydom

We wanted to be free
from the discipline
of boarding school
and catch a lift all the way,
to Durban at the sea.

What a life it would be
with bikini girls on the beach
and totally out of reach
of the head master’s cane
and we would visit every shop
and meet girls on the street
and spend every sent
without having to pay for rent.

The beach would be the place
to sleep and tan and surf
and to spent,
the rest of the summer
as a place of fun.

We packed our bags
and left our school uniforms behind,
but what a calamity
when the first car that stopped
opened its doors wide
and the principal was inside.