Gert Strydom, 8 april 2016
Where this world is but a grain of sand
in the enormity of endless space
while man struggles in a eternal race
to be more to achieve, to really live,
to love and be loved,
to matter to some one and to society,
in reality we are just actors on a stage
while the rest of the universe looks on
while the struggle through aeons rages
between the forces of the Divine
and the minions of hell
while destiny does leave no man free
from taking to a side
but yet the wave of time comes crashing
onto the shore of life
and like grains of sand we are swept along
when death does take dominion
and oblivion comes to whom and what we were,
to the hearts of our living descendants
when from life we are gone.
Gert Strydom, 7 april 2016
On the day of my birth
I am with my own love
and everything on earth
or existing in the heaven above
means nothing more
than the sweet company
of the one that I do adore.
Gert Strydom, 6 april 2016
In anger some religious officials and Roman soldiers came
to arrest Him and called out His name
when in great apprehension and fear
Peter did draw his sword and chopped off Malcus’s ear
and when He restored the ear back in place
there was great compassion and love on his face
but still the officials and soldiers did not comprehend
that they were taking the Son of God to His end.
The crowd that wanted Him dead was unruly and large
and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate could lay no charge
but ordered his soldiers to have Him stripped,
to strap down each wrist and have Him whipped.
A crown of thorns was forced upon his head,
he was mocked while to a cross he was led
and this was the man that healed the ill
that fed multitudes and preached of love with great skill.
Jesus from Nazareth was nailed to a cross
and although those that were killing him was at a loss
He said: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”
and if He himself would be eternally dead he did not have a clue
while without a fault He was from the day of his birth
but carried the sin of every converted human, of the whole earth,
could not connect with God while he did set others free
and did cry out: “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?”
Darkness came to the earth on that afternoon,
dark was the stars, the sun and the moon.
The Jews and Romans viewed this with dread
when the earth shook and people were raised from the dead.
To the Roman Centurion and his soldiers this was very odd
when they exclaimed: “Surely He was the Son of God”
and from the day that His blood did flow
God did His salvation on all people that do believe bestow.
Gert Strydom, 5 april 2016
Today my heart is full of joy
and while being mature I again feel like a boy
with all of the splendours of the world at his feet
as my darling, my beloved, is with me
and between us there is a kind of sincerity.
Although other women at time I do meet
they do me at times annoy
and I see clearly through each scheme and every ploy
as they do mean nothing and from them I am free
and do always long to be
with the one whom I do adore.
Gert Strydom, 4 april 2016
(After Koos du Plessis)
Let me find a place of rest on this rough earth
that lies near to Your heart, as my best deeds do remain stained
and I do know the things that do draw me further and further from You
while daily I am involved in a fierce battle for survival.
Let me stay true step upon step in your footsteps
while Your wings do cover me continually
as every weak place in my heart I do know
and let Your life and your love become greater in me.
Lord, save me when from my own deeds I am lost once again,
at times perplexed do not know where to go
and when my own conceit and weakness do continually wound me.
Out of the depths of misery and pain You do continually come and fetch me
and all of my success, fame and what I do possess are only borrowed to me
while time does continually speed on with my shadow against the ground.
[Reference: “Gebed” (Prayer) by Koos du Plessis.]
Gert Strydom, 1 april 2016
(after Christina Georgina Rossetti written for the 3rd of April)
My heart feels like the morning breeze
that whispers through the flowering jacaranda trees.
My heart feels like a redbreast that dances before the rain
and sings its song of gladness again and again.
My heart feels like the first light of the breaking day
that burns intensely with happiness in each ray
but much more intense than these images is my joy
with the feelings that are between a girl and a boy.
Let I pray blessings to those that love and hate me
and from the iniquity of the my youthful past be free,
let my family and friends come from far and near
as there is much more to this day than does appear
as I am a grown man in the prime of my life
with a angel, companion and friend as my wife
and let there be rejoicing on my known earth
as my love is with me on the day of my birth.
[Reference: “A Birthday” by Christina Georgina Rossetti.]
Gert Strydom, 21 march 2016
My heart has gone quiet in me
and this is not from tranquillity
but from the sadness and all the hurt
that I do continually experience and see.
Gert Strydom, 21 march 2016
Come to me in the brightness of a day
or in the darkness of the night
and then let be whatever may
even if it seems wrong or right.
Come to me in the experience of a dream
and do compassion and love freely give
as there is much more to life than what it does seem
and with you I do want to constantly live.
Gert Strydom, 20 march 2016
(in answer to Cornelius van der Merwe)
Out of the hell coming from stuttering Ak-47’s,
RPG-7 rocket grenades that destroy armoured-cars,
Stalin-organs that sing their deadly song,
T-55 tanks that circle in closer
men did return from the other side of the border
posthumous, wounded and bush-fucked
with every battle and the war won,
thousands of the enemy shot to pieces, killed,
their battle-tanks and armoured cars changed to scrap
so that even the Russian commanders realized
that against these brave men
they could not win.
Today these white citizen force soldiers
are seen by the government
almost as war criminals
and a monument had been built on a hillock
where they are not even mentioned,
where those that lost the war are esteemed highly
as the victors,
so as if history
can be turned back
by a corrupt black regime.
No revolution at Soweto, Langa and Nyanga
did force these Afrikaners to their knees
and in their God was their only salvation
against a vast majority of enemies and deadly weapons
in their fierce struggle,
but a bold-headed man (the leader out of own ranks)
did silently with his whole cabinet
walk over to the enemy,
and each other Afrikaner whose blood did flow
was betrayed and robbed from a chance of a existence
and around his head the Nobel price was hanged,
in his own glory, by himself being messianic
he was caught for long moments
as if he was bringing peace, while the death
of white farmers now circle out wider and wider
in the thousands.
[References: “En die omega” (And the omega) en “Soldaat môre” (Soldier tomorrow) by Cornelius van der Merwe.]
Gert Strydom, 18 march 2016
At this place I have been before
where life like a smashing breaking wave just thunders on
and I do not remember anymore
as all those old memories are now gone
but in your eyes there is a kind of light
that keeps burning bright
and you have been my own darling
(of that I am pretty sure)
as there is something familiar to you
and yet holding you feels somewhat strange
as if again our lives have been rearranged
but still our hearts and feelings are true
as if past time and memories they do now endure
and knowing you stays amazing.
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