The Warning Poem by Gert Strydom

At a crossroad just beyond the tunnel
of the Hartebeespoort dam
on a starry night
I notice a young woman next to road

and she is lovely
wears a blue dress
and a white jacket
while she is hitchhiking

and in the roof light of the BMW
she looks somewhat pale, so as if
she does not come into the sun
and her black strings of hair

hangs in waves down her shoulders
and the fragrance of almond blossoms
fills the car as she gets in
and after travelling a small distance

she urgently asks me to pull off the road
and we both do wait
until a car without lights does pass at speed
on the wrong side of the road

and without greeting the girl does disappear,
fades into the naught
and on the seat next to me lays a branch
with some white almond flowers on it.