Orpheus And Eurydice Poem by Gert Strydom

High up in the Sugar-bush hillocks on a knoll
the alfalfa field lays picture beautiful under me
when a striped cobra does lie upside down next to my boot
and I do trample the head of it before it can get life.
Around me the sugar bushes do flower,
while wild plums and wild-peaches do grow anywhere
when I jump from boulder to boulder to the top
and bloody-red aloes do astound me with their colour.
In the alfalfa field Hein is busy playing on his guitar,
is trying to steal a kiss or two from his girlfriend Suzette
but her eyes are closed as if she can hear and see nothing
when the guinea fowl go silent and I wonder if I am imagining it
and I jump down some boulder to have a better look
where to me they look much like Eurydice and Orpheus.

© Gert Strydom