THE CEDARBERG
Lead us to our middel berg, cedar berg
Krakadouw and Kriedouw
Maltese Cross and Wolfberg Arch
Leucospermum reflexum Waterfall
Protea cryophila Crystal Pools
The midrif at Sanddrif
We are the Cedarberg.



SPIRAL

The restless ocean heaves and rolls,
   the curling crest
   cups and breaks
   the endless waves
Reaching out and in
   further
   deeper
   higher
   wider
Echoing shells and nebulae
   nautilus,
   sunflower,
   desert dunes,
   the young girl's
   curving breast,
   boiling stars
   and coiling DNA
Reaching -
   ever inwards
   to infinite depth
   ever outwards
   to infinite largeness
The restless ocean of the human mind.


LIGHT THE FIRE

Light the Fire
    Muhammed Ali
     Higher
      Faster
    Stronger
Light the Power of the Dream

Light the Fire
    Muhammed Ali
     Martin
      Luther
    King's dream
Light the Spark in your Heart

Light the Fire
    Muhammed Ali
     Boxer
      Runner
    Gymnast
Light the Olympiad Flame

Light the Fire
    Muhammed Ali
     Tired
      Broken
    Champion
Light your Dreams, Hearts and Flame!

                                19 th July 1996 when Muhammed Ali lit the Olympic Flame




TODAY SHE WORE
Today she wore
As she ran to shore
Glistening satin green
Short silky skirt tucked
White, tight between her thighs
Spraying in the breeze
She gathered her curls
Pearls which rolled around her neck
Beckoning a gentle gentle plunge
To the pounding swells of her vest
Beside her played the little waves
Which issued from her watery womb
Then she turned
Toward the noontime moon
Satin green and silky white
The Sea


uMFOLOZI
Black and White
The river and the rhino
You thread your meandering waters
                uMfolozi
Confluence of the loins of our zigzag dark
From whence flows our wandering history
                uMfolozi
The lap of our life that twists and turns
                uMfolozi
Cleaves the cliffs of our divided, endangered rhinoland
The Black and White
                uMfolozi!


HLUHLUWE
Listen to the whispering Muse
The gentle breeze
Rippling, rustling through
The Hluhluwe reeds
“Hluhluwe, Hluhluwe.”
The crystal waters trickle
Then in stormy muddy rage
Rush relentlessly your broken message
To the smothering Salty Lake
Unable to contain the silting pulse
The trembling waves caress
The Hluhluwe Peninsuala


LUCIA WEEKEND
Bakkies
Trailers
4 X 4s
Surf boats
Yamahas
Rods and tackle
Plastic bags and cold lager cans
Pot-bellied gutsy fishermen
Crowd the cloistered village, lekker
Braaivleis and boeremusiek
Line the eastern shores the nylon lines
Glistening, probing the hungry fishy depths
Oblivious of  an indigo paradise
Red corals and darting yellow beauty
And the rusty barren bait
Which lurks in the hidden human reef


REQUIEM TO THE LEOPARD
(One the occasion when a leopard was reported run over by a car on the N1 near Pretoria, the Capital of South Africa 9-8-96.)

Dead Leopard
Did you ever dream
As a cuddling cub suckling at your Mother's teat
The tragedy to which your destiny speeds?
It was never your own fault that your domain
Was encroached by alien predators of the night
Speeding machines hurtling in their careless flight.

Were you in search of disappearing prey,
Or heard the plaintiff call of your wailing mate,
When on that fateful night you died?
Had you marked  life's territory
Invaded by the frightening  enemy?
Had you wandered in mysterious quest
For the Panther which dwells
Deep within your leopard breast?

It came so suddenly before your call complete,
Spotted chariot of the night
Outrun by the alien beast of man
Crucified on the grid of man’s misguided missile.
Regal Leopard, will you come again
To redeem your earth’s endangered specie
Or forever remain a stuffed curiosity?



CRUEL AFRICA
Cruel, cruel Africa
Groaning in ghastly agony
The fire sweeps through your bleeding breast
Burning your gut, your crotch, your groin
Your veldt writhes in pain, cries
Grunts
Creeps the crocodile
Reflux tears your venereal guts
Acid scorches lava down
The screeching crow’s craw
The great rift malarial mosquitoes
Grips and grabs the throttled, throaty crop
Grim scarabs gather like viral vultures
Cockroaches
Of the bronchial cattle kraal
Crouching stalking cats their bloody prey
Kine crush the crustacean crabby shell
Under hoof
Crucifies again the dying village coughing Lover
Cruel, cruel Africa
                1 st December 1997, World AIDS Day


KOGGELMANDER*
Lazily beneath the baobab you lie
Basking in the morning sun
Camouflaged
Among the rocks and roots
Of that grotesque trunk
A true specimen of your lizard line
Mottled brown
Your lapis lazuli blue blue head
Suddenly alert
Cocked
Mimicking the royal crown
Teasing
Imitating the cream-of-tartar tree
Aping
Pretending the monkey-bread
Mocking
Cooing the turtle dove
And the kokkewiet nearby
Curiosity twinges in your tail
Aroused by the haunting call
Stirring within your ancient reptilian brain
                4 th January 1998
                Afrikaans for Cockamander, a rock lizard.


TORTOISE
Tiny tortoise crawling
Across the dark black tar
Slow pedestrian
From one side to another
Marking time
But hurry now
For ahead hurtling down
Upon your slow and tardy walk
An Oshkosh
T-Rex of the Groot Karoo
Eighteen wheels crashing down
Upon your determined path
Will you survive
Tiny thing
These Titanics
Whirling through unknown
Time and Space?


DIE SWARTBERG
Hoe donker, donker lyk
Die berge bo die kim
Vuurig warm
Kronkelende
Massa
Die oorweldigende druk
Van die hart
Sal ek ooit die Swarteberge
Bowe kom?


TABLE MOUNTAIN
Brisk the breeze that blows
Upon her “fynbos” face
Drapes a delicate vale
Flowing in the wind
Net and lace
A bridal veil
Graces Nature’s beauty
Blessing her dwellers below
With tender love and duty
Mysteriously wonders
What dews drop girdle
Streams down her valleys
Sweet and cool from the swirling mass
When just there a corner lifts the lace
On her curling western crescent crest
And the cusping Moon kisses her misty lips
Blushing in the setting Sun.


MADIBA: THE FACE THEY COULD NOT HIDE
Banned and barred
They would not let us see
His eyes
The quiver of his lips
The smile
Hear his words
Lest we be changed
So they hid his face from us
Like the far side of the moon
Thinking we’d never want to know
Never
Never printed
Never snapped
‘Cept in cells
Mug shots and negatives
Till one blazing day
The face they could not hide
Smiled and danced
Released across our imprisoned land.


STAMVRUG VAN BLYDERIVIER

Stamvrug, pragtig en geil groei jy al langs
Die kruin van die Blydekloof
Vrug uit die oertyd woud.
Grys groen jou blink blare,
Goud geel die dons en die sy,
Bloedrooistamvrug -
Bont pels omhels jou naak geplooide tak.
Dit skitter soos 'n silwerdoek in die oog
Van jong onskuld waar, eens in die Tuin
Waar Eva aan jou stamvrug gejuk, gepluk
Daar gevat, gevroetel, geproe, en gesmaak…
Vleeswording, vrugbaar vas geskroef
Teen die skurwe bas van haar gewete.

Nog kleef die tros vruggies
Styf aan die kaalbas stam
En lede van die Blyderavyn
En wat steeds skuil in die klowe,
Klim bo die kranse uit.
Versadig die seuntjie se
Verlange na soetigheid.
Die stroop en die loop van wyn
Wat proe na versoeking
Die sout en die stoutheid
Skuld en die bitterheid
Maar wie se wortel en houtkruis
Na ewige verlossing wys -
Saggies gly die groen boomslang
                Grondwaarts en verdwyn.



BUSHMANS NEK RESORT
Soaring peaks and rugged cliffs
Surprise pools and long trodden trails
Mysterious cave where hunters of the mists
Portrayed their primal dreams
In ochres of the soil and soul
Now just memories edged on the mountain rocks

We sit closeted in our wallpapered rooms
Watching repeats of "The Bold and Beautiful"


HAIKUS OF THE HEATH

The Cape heathland pleats
neath kilts - heathers and highlands.
Ah! Bonnie purple!

Lantern Heath lights up
the Langeberg slopes in Spring.
Glorious orange.

Down by Riversdale
in flames of orange and green,
hearts burned with passion.

Hand in hand they go
Nature's wild efflorescence!
Heath beneath the trees.

A sunset 'Sinai'
and a blushing blenna bush
at Grootvadersbos.

Bluebells at Blombos
The buzz of the honey bee.
Lovers in the veldt!

She walks and she stalks,
flirts along the mountain side.
Teasing Hermanus!

Blinkwater heathers
bloom rich red in September.
Cradles in the Spring.

French Hoek abandon
heathers cleave meandering
across the Dwarsberg.

Scarlet Erica!
'Rooihaartjie van Jonkershoek'.
Rachal van die Kaap!

Your golden tresses
Blowing in the South-Easter.
A revealing glimpse!

Yellow, crimson, white
purple, pink and blue bells too!
Heaths of our Swartland.

Cape floral kingdom.
Myriad blooms grace the land.
Comes the Malay bride!

Dancing in the Spring
Gold frocks and petticoats red.
Girls in pretty skirts.

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