Manoeuvres Poem by Gert Strydom

"Mijn dag is goed...
er kan my niets gebeuren."
J.B. Charles

"My day is good...
nothing can happen."
J.B. Charles
(My translation)


(in answer to Johann Johl)

Sunday at the Pick n Pay I buy the Rapport weekend newspaper,
the whole town is still without power
and it's the mercy of God that nothing has happened,
at home I cannot even drink tee in this powerlessness.

At home a Boerboel is guarding it,
it howls excited and happily is barking at me,
no robbers had broken in to the house since I had been here,
Boerboel runs barking around the house to show that it is safe.

No rock from a bridge did fall upon my car,
no criminal with a gun did hijack me
and no shots are fired in the neighbourhood,
the neighbours are asleep from last night's gambolling.

Bladed-wire lets the yard look like a fortress,
the palisade-gate with its sharp points groans open,
at the street I do look up and down for robbers,
in the sky above me a police-helicopter roars,

a car of the neighbourhood-watch drives past slowly,
I do notice when I drive in:
everything looks normal and safe,
there is no terrorist waiting in an ambush,

the barbet in the oak tree shrills in a whistling-call,
a jet draws fuel-lines before it lands,
mother's epiphyllums flower is pink, orange and red on the porch,
the neighbour's daughter in a mini-skirt greets forwardly,

beyond a safety-gate, door and burglar-proofing
I write slowly write next to a candle this poem
and that everything is now safe says my intuition;
during the night a firearm is pointed at the neighbour.

the neighbour's alarm screams me mad,
I run out to try and help,
criminals drive away with screaming tires
and his wife and daughter cry without silently.
[Reference: "Maneuvers" by Johann Johl.
Poet's notes: the dog called the Boerboel, pronounced "boo-r-bull" gets its name from the Afrikaans / Dutch words that do translate as farmer's dog. It is known as the Boerboel, borbull, Bole or South African mastiff. It is larger than a bullmastiff.]