Ode To Cape Town (Refrain Stanza Sequence) Poem by Gert Strydom

I
I stood away from the mother-city disinterred,
in the distance far away strangely thunder I heard
were I was high upon this flat tabletop great hill
and in my heart everything was tranquil and still,
seagulls screeched and there was the call of another bird,
in the distance I saw two great oceans meet,
one ocean's unending blue was far beneath my feet,
it was as if Adamastor was somewhere near interred,
in the distance far away strangely thunder I heard.

II
To me my love who dwells here were very close,
a sea breeze softly from far below arose
and like a old lover was gently touching me,
while to the far horizon over many miles I did see,
thought of the paths in life that I chose
where like my ancestors I did follow the divine
but this great city was no longer mine
and the ways of God I have never opposed,
a sea breeze softly from far below arose.

III
The sky and oceans were all almost holy azure,
at this place and to this city there was something pure,
with its endless motion slammed the waves of the ocean
and at this place my heart had a strange emotion
as if I was not anymore of my direction in life sure,
on the lower banks of the hills everything was green
and yet the moment was very serene,
while I thought here a person could endure,
at this place and to this city there was something pure.

IV
The natives in border-wars had for resistance my ancestors not forgiven,
away from here in ancient times by the British my ancestors were driven,
with their lives did make a very bloody sacrifice,
in far-off Natal never got their earthly paradise,
tried to buy some land and for their peace death was given,
in their Great-Trek tamed the great wilderness and civilised it,
tried to find a place into which they do really fit
and so it goes to this very day even,
away from here in ancient times my ancestors were driven.

V
This is the place where the slaves were set free,
in Cape Town, in dark Africa a bastion of peace an tranquillity,
but it's also the Cape of a thousand storms,
a cosmopolitan place with religion in just as many forms,
where any person at a time could anything be,
which became the Cape of Good Hope,
where together in hardships people learned to cope
and here I am standing in my country's uncertainty,
in Cape Town, in dark Africa a bastion of peace an tranquillity.

© Gert Strydom