Gert Strydom Poems

It had been a hell of spring with the sun hanging scorching,
with nature longing in the flowering season
for the rain that had not come and the days turned over and over
while everything did dry out in record summer temperatures,
...

In the big old white house against the hill
my mother had a pantry, a secret place
which she locked,
where she kept ingredients
...

It is a kitchen with a big settee,
and big old coal and wood stove,
a big table where the whole extended family
ate great meals, sat chatting for hours
...

Dawn now wakes me earlier each morning,
bringing light at a time
where a month a go there was only night
with a chilly breeze
...

Forward I stride
in the mind's swamp
immersing at places,
bogged down
...

I see her dancing gaily
swirling the leaves outside
as if her spirit would forever be young
and although the autumn of my years
...

I do not need stars to tell me
that my life, my destiny is written,
that somewhere someone reads
some thoughts of mine
...

On long beach
we swam in the cold water
before walking up to the wreck
of the Kakapo
...

(for my wife Daleen for Valentine's Day)

No angel does the sweet passion know
that in my heart does brightly glow
...

(for my wife, Daleen on 25 February)

I love you to the depth of the most distant reaches of my soul,
in the innocent ways of a child,
...