Robbery In Springs South Africa At 13h00 On 23 June 2020 (Sonnet Sequence) Poem by Gert Strydom

I
In Springs, South Africa, at Lloyd Street
just as I was busy posting my poetry
afraid I heard my mother scream for me,
did an eighteen-year-old black-man meet

with my 86 year old mother near his feet,
with his hand on her mouth I did him see,
the other hand with a pipe threateningly.
At the moment he was going her to beat

he screamed and I clenched my fist:
"shut up or I will smash your head, "
of an armed robbery I got the gist
he stopped and did hit me instead.
"I will kill you, " he did again insist
he did threaten to beat me dead.

II

He did threaten to beat me dead,
while he swiped with a iron-pipe
(that pipe was not filled with lead)
I blocked both times he did swipe,

turned and ran back to my study
found a cap-gun, a mere child's toy,
while time ticked as if in a eternity,
bluffing as a strategy I did employ.

They dropped the new television set,
with two mobile phones they ran away.
I do not know if the police will them get
and it turned out to be a hell of a bad day.

People say I am lucky to be still alive,
that they did not have a gun or a knife.

[Poet's note:I have been reprimanded before by using colour where it comes to people.I am writing factually correct when I write and tell the absolute truth as it really is.There had been three black men in the robbery.I am 56 years old, my mother 86 and her sister 92.One of the black men jerked the 92-year-old lady around.The exact words to my mother by one of the other black men were: "White woman shut-up or I will smash your head until you are dead."His exact words to me were: "White-man I am going to kill you."The one mobile phone was a HuaweiY7 that my wife gave me for my birthday, the other phone was a Aspire5 Model" ZTE Blade A3 that I got as a gift for my mother and was still setting up for her of which she did already know.]