Samson Poem by Gert Strydom

While I walk blind round and round
chained with double copper chains
to the mill
a whip draws lines on my back
to force me to work still harder
and every lash cuts into me.

Sweat ooze through my long hair
and day after day I think back
to the lion
that I ripped apart with my bare hands,
how I killed a thousand of this enemy
with the jaw-bone of a ass,
how I let the gateway with door still in it
stand on top of mount Hebron
and chased three hundred foxes
with burning tails
into their fields
and had burnt everything down
and how I asked God for water
and the Lord cleaved the earth open
and a fountain appeared.

Outside I suddenly hear a fuss
and are led by soldiers
to a festival dedicated to Baal
of which I can hear the noise
from a distance
and the people tease and mock me
while I stumble along blindly
and they make a clown out of me
and I hear the laughter
of thousands of the enemy.

Then I ask the helper who holds my hand
to lead me to the pillars
on which this temple rests
and I call onto the Lord God
and in humility ask to have power again
to Him from whom my strength comes
and that He must forgive me
for all my sins
and suddenly there is great power
flowing through me
and I reach my hands out
and lock them
around the two middle pillars,
feeling them move
and then breaking in pieces
and crumbling as if mere dust.

[Reference: Judges 13-17.]