The House In Panorama Street Poem by Gert Strydom

I once had a stretch of red rocky ground
on the street side
of a rented house
in Panorama street in Rooihuiskraal.

The cars criss-crossed past
and the bank took it back
and rented it out
and nobody else
wanted to make that house
his own.

I decided to let flowers,
sprout out
of that rocky earth.

There were small carnations
that grew creeping over each other
with the most wonderful smell
and opened
in colours of white, red and purple blue.

There were geraniums
that easily grew out of cuttings
and become big strong bushes
that was covered with flowers.

Vygies crept all over the place
and just where you look
the rocky soil stood in flower
and I wanted to stop the bank
when I got two months notice
and other people
bought that house
with my beautiful garden.