Time Held Me Poem by Gert Strydom

(After Dylan Thomas)

Time held me
while I was still young and green
not yet knowing the man
that I was destined to be.

Time held me
while I was forced into war,
even before by law I could drive a car
and from the military

I though I would never be free
and even in every victory
the tentacles of death
had destruction to the inner core.

Time held me
when I went to study at university
met a girl and fell in love
with someone really pretty

and the summer, the sun
the beach and sea
seemed like a lot of fun
as if my life had only just begun.

Time held me
while she had eyes green as the sea
but I did not then see
that destiny had its chains
clasped around me and from it
I would never be free.

Still time is holding me,
clasping my spirit, my body and soul
and while the winter is setting in
it still sometimes feels
as if life has only just begin.


[Reference: Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas. “Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.” Dylan Thomas.”]