5th Avenue Remembered Poem by Gert Strydom

You’ll paint
in your studio
or in the living room
while we watch a video

and I will pen words down too
and sometimes hear you sing
the melancholy of lost loves
and your mother dear
and in my thoughts
always we will be near.

The animals
of our own little zoo
will lie on the ground
and on the floor
wag their tails

and one will sit
upon my legs
majestically like a cat does,
while another
face loving
up from next to you.

My country will merge
into a poem
of a old black lady
carrying her baby
piggyback
and being denied
help from anyone

and on your canvas
she will unfold
with a red head band
and the big
astounded eyes
of the hungry child
following me around.

Sometimes your head
will lie on my chest
while you rest
and Dr. House
becomes a part
of our family

but only you and me
will cry and laugh
and love
in our sanctuary
that fortress against
whatever life brings.