The Small Writer Poem by Gert Strydom

As I walk on Guido Gezelle’s birth ground,
Bruges, a city full of people is spread around me,
there’s a small boat with sails flapping in the wind,
cathedrals and channels are everywhere, a place where you can love

and in a channel there’s something small circling
dressed in black armoured skin
but maybe it’s only my imagination
comprehending secret words written on the water surface

and when I look up into the sky
there are clouds closing
and suddenly it’s as if the clouds open
with His great presence coming down,

I have to cover my eyes against the bright light
and I see a water beetle drawing the names of God on the water.


[Reference: Het Schrijverke by Guido Gezelle. Bruges is a city in Belgium.]