In a Far off summer

These are the fields, bushes and trees
where a boy cried heartbroken
in a far off summer,

when the bull
swiped his darling filly
with its horns
while she was drinking
at the trough

and that horse fell twitching
on her back
with her guts ripped out
and she had to be shot
and his older brother
brought the.303 rifle
with only one bullet

and was determined
to take the shot,
but the filly moved her head
and the bullet when up her nose

and there was blood everywhere
while she neighed in pain
and he ran as fast as he could
while weeping
to get some more bullets

and without a word
took the rifle from his older brother
put a bullet in the slot and cocked it
brought the firearm to his shoulder
and took a deep breath
before squeezing the trigger.

His favourite horse was slain
and the pain was great
and almost unbearable for him
and his brother tried to comfort
but there wasnt anything
that he could do or say
to take that pain away.

First Rain

The past winter had come
with black ripe
and had turned the green grass,
even the flowers into dead,
yellow withered things

but now in this early spring,
rain was showering the earth
with thousands of kisses,

bringing back life
and the sweet smell
drifted up from the wet sand
as if something great
had come forth
out of the creators hand

and later a rainbow
with brilliant colours
stretched from horizon to horizon
against the dark black clouds

while in the distance
lightning bolts were crashing down
one after another

and in my imagination
I could already see
tender shoots sprouting.

20th century

Farms are burned down to the ground
and cattle slaughter just there in the fields,
while a super power forces women and children
into concentration camps to kill them there.

Railway tracks run crisscross over the country
and galloping horses and oxen pulling wagons
are replaced by roaring cars, lorries
and motorbikes
and people follow technology
as if its the new god.

When the stock exchange folds
people jump from the windows of buildings,
while they are out of their wits,
as if they have got wings.

Germans march past
and thousands in crowds
are giving a sigh heil salute

and in a peculiar way stay ignorant
about millions of Jews that are robbed
and killed,
as if they did not exist.

Bombers let bombs dropp like rain
on Britain and rockets
hit London almost unstoppable

and in the icy Russian winter
the Germans are reminded that they are humans
and from Stalingrad they are driven back

until the Russians claim some of Berlin
and half of Germany
as their domain
and almost every women there gets raped

and America drops the bomb on Hiroshima
and another time on Nagasaki
and their enemies are molten, burned and radiated

and after this war jets cross the skies,
rockets go to the moon
where man stands like a god.
 
Its the age were young boys
are shot into peaces in Vietnam, in Namibia
and Angola are sent to war,
where people loose respect for God
and try to solve everything with science,
where man becomes godly in his own eyes

and I wonder what the almighty God
thinks about this
while man is turn the earth to ruins
and are filling the cup
of the wrath of God?

A Brave Boer Boy

At Italeni the bushes come alive
and abound with a horde of Zulus,
of which the spears glitter
and some are at the peak
of a hillock
and others on the plane.

Blood and fat
are spread over their faces
and they are raging
and in a blood thirsty trance
and scream luring
and tipple with a ritteltit war dance
and clubs and shields,
are thrown into the air
while spears flash into the air.

In the cloudless blue sky
an eagle flies past screaming,
while Boer horsemen
are riding past with guns at the ready.

Father and son gallop next to each other
and the hoofs of the horses hang thundering,
as far as they go.

When the first Zulus are in striking distance
they fire at them
and the front warriors fall
and the rest turns about
and run into the bushes
and cliffs.

The commando breaks into smaller groups
and the fleeing Zulu impi
are followed
and Dirk rides side to side with his dad,
to help the Malan brothers
where they are trapped in the cliffs.

Suddenly a whole impi of murderously mad Zulus
are around them
and Piet Uyss gun
is jammed
and he stops to fix it
and out of the air a spear falls
that penetrates him.

He tell his men to ride away
but Dirkie wants to stay
and he rides only a hundred steps away,
when he hears the war cry
of  a lot of Zulus
that storm to his father.

Horse and son becomes one
and horse and son
burst galloping through the Zulus
and he shoots three down,
but he is murderously
speared from his horse
and one flintlock gun that breaks
cannot stop a horde of spears.

Father and son lies together
while a Zulu impi
dances with joy up and down
and in the bright blue sky
an Eagle screams while it passes
while death
embraces both men.

At times when a storm
rises over that long hillock
people hear horse hoofs
rushing over the earth
and a rifle that thunders,
while shadows
threaten and creep nearer
and the cry of an Eagle
sounds over the cliffs.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Lik a diamond in th sky.

Twinkle twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

A brush With Death

Gliding out of my boot you came
and I stood thunderstruck as if lame
while you slithered out

pitch black with ridged scales
and light rings around your neck
and I waited for you to strike

facing death with white gleaming fangs,
seeing you uncoil and hypnotized
rather by common sense than fear,

seeing your forked tongue
testing the air
and the hair on my bare arms rise.

Any movement would make you strike
or spit or both in quick succession
and I waited there
while you sailed away

and sometimes cursing
and blessing that day
as you kept me
from stepping on a landmine
which I spotted gleaming
where you brushed some sand away.