Gert Strydom, 8 august 2013
Today my heart rejoices
like a bird in full song
with its throat throbbing
and it’s almost the beginning of spring
and as the day goes along
everywhere there are joyful voices
and it’s the time that my love and I
celebrate our wedding day
and I pray that our love do remain
throughout our lives in happiness and pain
and that everything that I do or say
just brings more happiness as times goes by.
© Gert Strydom
Gert Strydom, 8 august 2013
He caught the largest cod he had ever seen,
was rowing out
with it drifting right next to the small boat,
sharks were about
turning and again turning around them;
angry, in rout,
he had lost that fish to those predators
that were deadly snapping operators.
Gert Strydom, 8 august 2013
It was at Hartebeespoort dam,
that I was fishing for Carp,
with maize bombs,
some dips and floaters
when I saw a man
put a small roasted chicken
on huge hooks
and casting a thick line in
using a reel and rod
suitable for sea fishing.
I must admit that he
had downed a six-pack or two
and he said
that he was trying to catch catfish
and I knew that some crickets,
earthworms or even normal bait would do
but he said that divers
checking the dam wall
had seen catfish the size
of great white sharks
and were scared of them
as they were very vicious fish
that usually kept to the depths
and I silently went on fishing,
changing bait, casting in
and caught a couple of blue kurper,
three decent carps
and a yellow-fish
that leapt out of the water
while it tried to escape.
I was totally amazed
when the angler
with the chicken on the huge hooks
got a bite, smacked the rod,
hooked something
that with a mighty force
started running with his line
and tried to pull him
rod and all
right into the depths
of that big dam
and a couple of men
had to hold him,
as they were struggling
against an enormous thing.
Gert Strydom, 8 august 2013
At the break of dawn
the neighbour has a visitor
pulling in with a small Nissan-do- it-all pickup
towing a small Venter trailer
with a blow-up motorboat on the canopy
and the two wave at me
when they set out
driving away to the sea
and shout aloud: “See you there”
and a day later I meet them on the beach
standing solitary
out of view from each other
on rocks jutting into the sea,
throwing whistling lines
straight into the deep
with sunglasses protecting their eyes
against the glare
as if searching for peace and tranquillity
at the edge of the blue ocean
and the two men speak few words to me
both determined to reel in something big
and in the distance the hues of sea and sky meet
while water touches, laps against my feet
and I find my own way to the jetty
casting a line in, waiting patiently
until a lovely girl comes over to talk with me,
sets my mind on different things
(spoils the tranquillity),
but I have a two legged mermaid
following me to a restaurant
while they still wait with nothing,
casting in with new bait.
Gert Strydom, 6 august 2013
Forthright I want to love you
and I want to hold you dearer,
tell my deepest things to you
and where feelings begin
without words expose my heart
and never fabricate anything
but still make promises
and pray you deeper into my life.
Gert Strydom, 5 august 2013
I who with my own strong defences
did fall in love with you,
was far too vulnerable in the dark night
when you were with me
and every morning, every new day
suddenly did happen
while we were experiencing something much deeper
and love was joining us both to each other.
Gert Strydom, 5 august 2013
The more intimate and better I do know you,
the more I am amazed
by your fragile humanity, by a beauty
that fits perfectly
into the part that my life needs
and like light on glass
you are tuned in on me;
even when life hurts or brings joy.
Gert Strydom, 5 august 2013
Your eyes that sparkle gold like the sun
have got stories,
secrets of how your feelings are,
tells constantly
that you do really love
and some metals
have got the same golden brown glitter
as that which continually dances in your eyes.
Gert Strydom, 5 august 2013
The more intimate and better I do know you,
the more I am amazed
by your fragile humanity, by a beauty
that fits perfectly
into the part that my life needs
and like light on glass
you are tuned in on me;
even when life hurts or brings joy.
Gert Strydom, 2 august 2013
I know the perfume that clings to you,
the deeper glance
that sometimes for seconds lingers in your eyes,
the long moment
that we are at times caught in each other,
every breath and gasp
when joy and passion burns the highest
and the tender feeling of your soft hand.
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