At Forty-Five Poem by Gert Strydom

At forty-five he was at the point
of becoming a director of the board,
a financial genius who, could look
through sheets and sheets

of wiggling figures
and see trends, danger signs
like a prophet could
declare where things were going

but to some he was a little too big for his boots,
far too intelligent, far too clever
and a real and ominous threat
and he was removed from his post,
retrenched with three females
an Asian, a Black and a Coloured
appointed in his place.