Today I Saw A Man Poem by Gert Strydom

Today I saw a man,
probably a grandpa,
standing with a short shirt and pants
in the sun
while life passes him.

Somehow things went terribly wrong
and he was almost stripped naked
and burnt red
and while we talked
he left a deep impression
on me.

Other Afrikaners avoided him
like the plague
too scared
to also get something of his misery
or even to share
a rand or two with him.

l’Envoi
There were already clouds
hanging heavy and black
in the sky
and around the corner
where he sleeps at night
there was nowhere
to really find some shelter
against the cold, whether and wind
and for a moment
his pain blinded me
and I asked myself
why life devours some people
without cause
while robbers drive in expensive cars
and sometimes live in palaces
and still he witnessed
that the Lord is great
and still cares
but things were getting dismal.
[Reference: The South African monetary currency is the rand.]