We Will Not Escape From This Hell Poem by Gert Strydom

We will not escape from this hell
of the coming war, my patriotic brothers,
even if we pray for peace
in a country where there is obliteration.

We who in suits, jackets and ties
do not even put our lips to whiskey and brandy,
who level-headed keep to our obligations
will smell the vinegar of death and taste it.

We will not stay in this promised land
where others rob and take our possessions
if we do not ask for God’s protection,
ask that He Himself wage the struggle.

In our best clothes we will be put to death
we will be chopped into pieces, be burnt alive
with a crowd (who despise God) waiting
with murder in their hearts to rape

our daughters and wives
and they will leave us naked
to lie stripped in the sun
and we will not escape from this hell

if we do not ask for God’s protection,
ask that He Himself wage the struggle,
the oppression
will circle out wider and wider.