Restaurant Incident (Gogyoshi Sequence) Poem by Gert Strydom

1
Where you and I cross the road
the neon lights of the restaurant flash,
cars make a din on the busy road,
you smile cheerful when I take your hand
and we walk to the entrance.

2
Not with the sound of a Japanese racing motorcycle
but with a deafening thunder-roar,
a black Harley Davidson motorbike races straight at us
and the beetle that drives it with the high-handlebars,
turns with a wide arc right across some cars.

3
He laughs boisterous that his whole body does jerk
while a girl on the back clings for life and death
and gives a almost hysterical scream
where like chewing gum she is stuck to him
and it's suddenly silent when the motorbike dies.

4
He wears a black second-world-war Hitler helmet,
is clothed in a black leather-jacket and black pants,
wears high boots and the girl look similar
and I wonder if it's a kind of informal uniform,
while leather-tassels rocks at the motorbike's handlebars.

5
We enter the restaurant and are received friendly
as our place has been booked and reserved in advance,
you wear a rose-red evening dress,
I am dressed in a black suit with a wine-red tie
and you smile your thanks when I draw out the chair.

6
He enters the restaurant
like a real breaker,
but looks as if he has got more money than intellect
where on his right arm he carry-drags the girl,
with contempt do look through the other people.

7
He is far past angry where he has to wait for a place.
"Iron, we can go to another place..."
His glance lets the girl swallow her words
while our drinks do come
and from the menu we order your favourite dish.

8
The atmosphere is charming and intimate between us
while I pour champagne and the gold in the glass does shine,
your breath is sweet near to my cheek
and we talk about the symphony-concert that is waiting
in the State-Theatre that is nearby.

9
We are again aware of the beetle
when he picks up the headwaiter by the neck
and everything in the restaurant comes to a halt.
Right there he wants a table like us,
while his girlfriend lowers her face in shame.

© Gert Strydom