The Ballade Of Rietfontein Poem by Gert Strydom

(after I. D. du Plessis)

I
At Rietfontein when in the spring the pear, peach and apricot do blossom,
when the blossoms fall into the irrigation-dam, into which a strong stream flows,
at midnight in the moonlight a sad scene does occur
when suddenly ghosts as humans become alive.

II
Chorus:
Full of blood is the water and bright the moon
where a young woman screams and a figure stands motionless,
with corpses that drift in the irrigation-dam
and a bloody trail leads into the lane.

III
More than a hundred years back the most beautiful woman
did at the irrigation-dam hold her lover in an embrace,
where the blossoms did as confetti fall over them
and jealous a man noticed that the two wanted to marry,

IV
there is the lovely and wonderful memory
of her lover that holds her with passion,
where in enchantment they do spent moments together
and jealous a man notice that the two wants to marry,

V
where the couple wanted to love each other intimately over them lays dew,
while a killer holds a knife in his bloody hands,
do look at the work of his hands silently without movement
and jealous a man noticed that the two wanted to marry,

VI
at Rietfontein when in the spring the pear, peach and apricot do blossom,
when the blossoms fall into the irrigation-dam, into which a strong stream flows,
at midnight in the moonlight a sad scene do occur
when suddenly ghosts as humans become alive.

[Reference: "Rietfontein" by I. D. du Plessis.]

© Gert Strydom