The Things That Befall You Poem by Gert Strydom

Sometimes the things that befall you,
come from your own choices,
but sometimes destiny just befalls you
as if life acts at its own whim.

My life is passing
as if on a road to nowhere
and outside the winter wind rushes,
swaying the smaller branches of the trees

but inside I am frozen,
into my own thoughts, fears
and ambitions that circle away
like water down a drain.

Outside I see children
playing in the street,
shouting at each other
on this winter holiday

with one voice continually shouting:
"Christiaan, Christiaan"
sounding like an echo on the wind
and to them I am

just a mirrored window,
reflecting the garden,
the dull blue sky
and something of life.