Under Your Spell Poem by Gert Strydom

Passers by will strain their necks
on the beach
and like fools
stop and stare at your beauty

and maybe you will wear
a one-piece swimsuit
or a tiny bikini

and it would be black,
or bright blue or red
and maybe white.

Men will stay men
be dressed in swimming trunks
and some will wear only jocks

and all of us will have lumps,
some with ruffled hair and freckles
like men do

and I will parade you proudly,
receive a smile and kiss,
rub lotion on your brown body
and we will lie in the sun

and later will bath in the swell,
swim with the waves
in the cold Atlantic
and I will be under your spell
and you might love me still.