When I Go To The Mountains (In Answer To Bonaventure Hinwood) Poem by Gert Strydom

When I go to the mountains,
witnessing Your wonderful creative power
in nature
it is clear that You keep Your hand
over all things

as if You are there more present
than at other places,
as if You cherish the whole wide world
like the Garden of Eden
caressing every little thing
against Your chest.

If I have got to believe Your word,
a time will come
when Christians like in times of old
have to flee from persecution
where the mountains will become
their sanctuary,
where a whole army
will not be able to get them out

and it lets me think about how the Waldenses
in days of old had to suffer
while they only wanted to read Your word
in Bibles in their own language
and was trapped in caves and burnt to ashes
by soldiers of an overwhelming religious force.

[Reference: Vlug na die berge (Flee to the mountains) by Bonaventure Hinwood.]