Experiences with God
I
You make all things new
I realized when I watched the Southern Cross tonight,
that like always holds something magical for me,
maybe I was so carried off in the daily dispute
of my own grey existence that I absolutely
did not notice that You, hold fold Your hand over us,
that Your beacons burn bright and are never growing faint.
Even if situations is how acute
and Moscow, Rome, Washington and Pretoria
are all places where Your light is falling upon
where people are created in Your image,
where people rejoice, are jubilant, cry and complain,
and with innumerable people
You are present as the almighty God.
II
You are present as the almighty God,
but nobody else was on my side
when I realised my destruction,
nobody was near to me,
everyone was as a stranger not dear to me
and when I went out in the new morning
you were a man, a woman or a child
until I stood before the heavenly Father
and not blinded anymore
I saw the pain, heartache and loneliness of other people,
when I saw that everyone is God’s child,
that everyone have to be brothers of each other
and then I myself became insignificant in my own eyes,
moved by the almighty God.
III
Moved by the almighty God
where water run like rivers
overwhelming to my mind,
the clouds again opened
with a rainbows catching the eye,
even when thunder is bashing down continually,
coming from the darkest clouds
God’s promises keeps standing.
On a planet were things are stripped unto the core,
are breaking down and decaying by own actions,
man brought the darkness upon himself,
in rebellion against the God of the universe
and at times I stand shivering
when I want to live without Your light.
IV
When I want to live without Your light,
when it does not penetrate to the depths of my soul
as if my existence is just circling out aimlessly
and between it all I somewhere loose my balance
with the outcome almost to eternity staying far off,
when I cannot jump off the highest cliffs,
I hear the wind howling monotonous in my ears,
it is if I want to yield before the onslaught
but my life is anchored like a fortress on You as the rock;
it is as if this separation do not penetrate to You,
I see waves breaking, thunder striking out in blue tongues,
with waves continually colliding with me
and to eternity I stay before You as just another single individual;
when the bad weather in the afternoons stirs up.
V
When the bad weather in the afternoons stirs up,
with mornings being cobalt blue,
then I know how much I miss you
and when thunder breaks forth in the late afternoon
it’s like the hand of God that He is protruding,
I become aware of His presence,
as if I can touch Him
and thus being able to ask the wishes of my heart
and just before the rain bashes down pattering
I want to know how long it is still going to be
before I am going to see you again
and mightily His answer comes in numerous lightning bolts
that crackles down in with blue-white fire
while He is asking me to trust while I behold His work.
VI
While He is asking me to trust while I behold His work,
when with humility I bring my hands together,
holding you with love against me
and we want to press upon Him in the infinity,
in suffering and pain everything passes with speed,
but He remains in our thoughts with the world in the circle of His fingers
as if we are like a fortress, against that which rages against us
with you, my darling in my embrace
there’s a small universe suddenly forming
coming to reality between two separate people
as if passion, knowledge and ingenuity
with love binds lives, against all that is assaulting
and there a flower rises perfectly out of the naught,
where together we can venture into the infinity.
VII
Where together we can venture into the infinity
with the greatest master of mathematics and science
who is astounding us the whole time with his omnipotence
and there are images that His thoughts form and realize,
divide into rivers, lakes and oceans
with planets spreading like a skeletons, open and uncovered
while He only is giving commands
water masses recede, are pushed away
with continent upon continent appearing,
with a sun hanging in the sky
and He spreads His hands
and suddenly countless animals appear,
Your love, stays unending and without any substitute,
You make all things new.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Related quotes
Let the cleverest people theorize scientifically
Let the cleverest people
theorize scientifically
and try and proof
that the world
and the great universe,
originated cataclysmic
and out of nothing
developed into perfect systems
that is in harmony.
Still stars are constantly burning out
and natural things
are bound by time
and by its own accord,
every thing runs down
as thermodynamics’ second law
teaches clearly.
Let clever and great people
further try and teach
that the Almighty God
is only a myth
and that there’s no God,
or Satan
and that man
is his own supreme ruler
and that everything
only is focused around and about
the here and now.
Let them sprout from a homogenous cell,
fish, ape, gorilla and barbarian
and blinded by their own madness keep on reasoning,
I come out of the hand of an Almighty God
and know that my Father
holds His hand over every thing
and from eternity
He has selected me
to be His child.
Even wise men with time
comes to a fall
and the great God
of the universe,
stays past eternity
and His existence and love
can pass all things, time,
places and situations.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Through the window the new moon peeps
(For Daleen)
I
Through the window the new moon peeps,
many stars glitter blue-white
where they sit glowing in the darkness,
like diamonds at which I look,
when the ginger cat stands in the windowsill,
next to me the moon falls on your face
and it looks as if you are dreaming,
as the lights of a car passes
and I am blessed to have you here,
with your intimate heat next to me,
but it's only a dream in which I dare this
as if a thousand nights will be such
and I am free of my worries,
it's as if everything fades in your presence.
II
It's as if everything fades in your presence
as if the past, times and things do not touch me,
when we are together and small things make you happy
as if nobody else does anymore matter
and with the magic that spring brings
there are new green sprouts rising,
in the garden it's as if the grass suddenly jumps,
I see irises already blooming purple in pots,
I see all the beauty that this spring brings
and all of the flowers that I can get
are far too insignificant
as you are very dear to me
but I do continually long for you,
even when the sun hangs magically in the sky.
III
Even when the sun hangs magically in the sky,
my life feels empty without you,
even if the sky is cobalt blue,
even if the rays of the sun catch me caressingly,
I am still like a child scared of darkness,
while I long to hold your hand, to embrace you,
while I want to know you better and want to trust you
in all the days of spring
and I wonder about your thoughts,
where you are now sitting in an office,
or does life also pass you,
while you drink a cup of tea
in a place with many white papers;
do you have any time to think of me?
IV
Do you have any time to think of me,
I wonder, while I am working in the garden
and I do not immediately notice you
while I am mowing the lawn
and I see a dove gliding over the earth
with no clouds in the deep blue sky,
where it stretches out with brightness above me
and irises and roses are flowering where you sit down.
I kiss you and do it another time
where we are alone in the back garden,
I am caught and you sweep me along
right here in the bright daylight,
and the bright sun falls over us
when I give my self to you.
V
When I give my self to you
and share my deepest secrets,
when you walk deep into my heart
and know me thoroughly
then I tell you about my life
and you learn that love comes from God,
and love has a new much deeper meaning
and I am astounded by your beauty time after time.
You are the summer child, the morning sun,
you are mine before the people and God
of light my only real source
and more precious than any human law
but then I suddenly wake up and want to cling to you;
in this late summer I miss you.
VI
In this late summer I miss you,
the separation of moments comes
in every small thing that I notice
and it reflects your image and your name.
I can hear birds whistling in the trees,
even feel the soft wind caressing my skin,
but you are the source of my heat,
the loveliest song that plays right through my heart
and I wonder if a person looses some humanity
when you trust somebody totally,
when you make deeper bonds,
when you cling to someone else in rapture?
Outside lights beacon lonely;
your voice over the phone makes my heart frolic.
VII
Your voice over the phone makes my heart frolic
when it sounds like that of a young girl,
when your image shines like that of an angel
and I am searching for flowers not just a poppy
but something precious that I want to pick for you,
when you bring me joy
and I want to embrace you for moments
while I wonder how that sensation will last
as the miles is some distance
but the yellow sun shines bright through your words
and suddenly my life feels right
as if radiated from a heavenly source,
our conversation stretches long, goes on and on;
through the window the new moon peeps.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Caught in time
There are great images and events
that for ever
are caught in my thoughts,
like pure mathematics,
where things doesn’t continue
and are frozen
while the clockwork stops striking.
The Eagle that tries to catch
a fish out of the water
of which the feathers
with the dive
rise up,
that hangs frozen
above the waves
before its claws
can ever break the waves.
The sun that stretches out
its first feelers over the horizon
and hillocks,
as if the bright day
never is going to brake.
‘a Golden full moon
that rules big and bright
over the night,
where it sits
halfway into the sky
as if it’s never
going to move further.
a Rainbow that brightly
touches the earth after the rain,
as if a painter
placed it perfectly
in a beautiful painting.
Lightning bolts that branch white-blue
in the night sky
and resound in the heaven,
as if they are never
going to strike the ground.
Rain that on a cloudless day
fall out of a blue sky,
while no thunder rumbles
anywhere near.
Maybe I can look at precious moments
that still stays with me,
and made a difference to my life.
The knowledge that a Almighty God
really exists
whose hand is stretched over my works
and just where I go,
I can see His influence
in everything around me.
The first time that I saw my darling
and the image that remains with me
of glowing golden eyes
and red-brown hair,
through which the sun shines
and my heart that felt
as if it wanted to stop in my chest.
The first nice kiss
that I got from her
and the fragrance of her perfume,
that forever
stays with me in my thoughts.
My child that gives the first cry,
as if there will be no other cries
that really matters.
The super hero
that I am in my children’s eyes,
as if no other man
can ever be better.
My dog that waits
day after day at the gate
and hops up and down from gladness
and barks and cries,
as if after a thousand years
I am returning home
and as if it has
no comprehension of time.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Every Night when Darkness Comes
I
Every night when darkness comes,
when we say prayers together
then I know that your bright light
never fails,
that you daily determine
the destiny of every one
who bend down to you, that stars spray like sparks
going to unknown places
and that you the sun of righteousness
will come at your set time
with bright rays, that you will come down
past all mortality,
that all earthly troubles and worries will disappear;
how do you Lord, let the pain be gone?
II
How do you Lord, let the pain be gone,
two animal children I have lost shortly after each other
and when in the mornings I look outside
there are only two left.
How do you tell others that do not really comprehend
of the bond that a person has,
of the love coming from the heart of a animal,
about the moments of unmentioned pleasure
and now that I am without a wife or children
the remaining two still serves me faithfully,
there is a tight bond
and I pray for you to hold your hand over them
and if you want to take them as well;
I am lost on this world.
III
I am lost on this world,
in the unknown world that waits tomorrow on me,
when my strength begins to wane
before the dark night,
but when the new light appears,
the sun still rises in a new day
(when the sun again shines in all of its glory over me)
in the unknown things waiting on me,
my known yesterdays are included
in bright days, that in late afternoons declines,
it is as if everything that came before is included
in memories and even when lightning bolts fall around me
I find your presence continually,
when shadows fall over me.
IV
When shadows fall over me,
when the world almost decadent
roughly falls into my universe
and shadows sometimes permanently
try to sabotage my best efforts
and everything in my will rises up
I feel pushed away, blunted and used;
but still I remember you
from whom all light comes
and are waiting on a new day,
although I am knocked down and am astonished,
although it continually looks to me like night
you never really leave me isolated,
even when in my dreams I scream and wonder.
V
Even when in my dreams I scream and wonder
why every morning folds around me,
almost endlessly without you,
as if live is destroying me,
trying to get me down
without me being able to keep the pain away,
as if no fatherly hand is helping me,
I still stand astonished
when I see the works of God
in small things around me
where its power without bonds
even unfolds in my own writings
I know that He constantly draws me nearer,
even when the scribes gather.
VI
Even when the scribes gathered,
to send me to hell,
they still wanted to draw near to you with a last prayer
on that determined dark hour.
To confirm that they are accomplishing your will,
as if to say, so says the Lord,
they stood in a circle,
that white plastered men.
At that time I was wondering about people,
who have the audacity to put them in your place
if that Sanhedrin
really did carry out your wishes
or are they the whole time walking in darkness,
do they not know what is written on the ground?
VII
Do they not know what is written on the ground?
Lord I thank you for sharpening me in my growth
even when so-called holy people come with a sentence
that interferes with my vocation.
Although sometimes I feel the pain penetrating
as if it’s cutting to the bone,
I know that you only mean things to be well for me,
that you and your angels are continually at my side
but ask that you protect me
against the darkness, the evil
that in hordes gathers around me,
that you do not wait
that you keep me on the right way, even when I go astray;
every night when darkness comes.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Totally Lost
I
With someone new to adore,
you are constantly
haunting me
as if at times you can penetrate through death
but sometimes I know that I am fabricating it
and for years you are out of my life
but sometimes I cannot get you out of my thoughts
before you jump into my heart again
as if you are not peaceful
on the other side
and in my sorrow and in life's coldness
I am stranded here
and you find no kind of relief
in the late night's big silence.
II
In the late night's big silence
my thoughts are at times with you,
while the big separation brings a chill
while I keep clinging to memories.
You are much too far from me
and your whole humanity
cannot stay here,
and it appears at times when I read your old letters,
when you are like a flower to me
that could grow in the earth of my soul
but death has divided us
and untimely you were pruned away in your prime
and still your absence cuts through me like a raw cry,
sometimes it's much better not to know about you.
III
Sometimes it's much better not to know about you,
to totally wipe out that which was between us
to forget the memories and passion
as if nothing had been
to cause your presence to eternally fade away,
to let each memory slowly pine away,
to stop me from daring in my dreams
to search for you to appear
and I am in a world where yours are divided from mine,
where I have got to keep to the here and now,
where I have to know that we are in separate places
and I am aware of this reality
that destiny cruelly rips lives apart with her claws;
my whole world was where you went
IV
My whole world was where you went
and in you I found my rest and joy
while you were with me as my darling
but life had devoured it far too suddenly
while my existence was anchored to you,
while our things was limitless deep
and we both were trusting on God
while now alone I search for answers,
where without you I see a new tomorrow,
while suddenly pain cuts unexpectedly through me
and I in despair try to cling
to the little that remain of you
and forever we are separate from each other,
you are buried in your coffin and I know sorrow.
V
You are buried in your coffin and I know sorrow
and no stranger asks about you or walks past,
there are people dressed in black
everywhere in the church around me
and everyone is disenchanted
where they are mourning
and it's as if nothing can break through the darkness
that appears about you a pretty girl, already a woman
and suddenly the minister starts talking at the front,
the sexton walks to the back and asks: 'who is lying here? '
his voice resounds through the whole church
and he gets no answer.
The service passes much too quickly;
I feel like I can fight against God.
VI
I feel like I can fight against God,
I cannot really know,
why some people lead longer lives
and for others life is measured out into darkness,
still less I know for what I am searching,
something stays just out of my reach
as if it is involved with the things that are happening
and just when I look it's already gone,
it's just beyond the bright blue
as if I am living with an incomplete purpose
where I am almost seeing it, it's almost in my thoughts
but I cannot see or feel it
and I know that something terrible is wrong,
where everything eventually becomes chaos.
VII
Where everything eventually becomes chaos,
where the whole world are waiting on disintegration,
I wonder what makes me languish
for new life, for the rain that pours down?
What lets me hope that very soon
a glorious age, a glorious day will appear
on the other side of the dark night
while everything around me with time collapses?
Now I hope to have someone else again,
that your life and hours of pain disappear
and again I want to begin with someone anew,
while I stay trusting that the answers lie in the hands of God,
while I believe that the sun will shine on me again
with someone new to adore.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Prayer for a ruined earth
I. You that are almighty
At the beginning You that are almighty
spoke mighty words,
reaching Your hands out to the darkness
and defined the existence of all things
letting light come out of total darkness
with the first morning breaking
causing stars, comets and planets to break free out of nothing
and with Your immeasurable power and knowledge
caused life to come forth from the nought
forming man to your own image
and long before this,
even before the fall of man, forgiveness already existed,
You had already decided
in love for the sake of man, on Your own death sentence.
II. You left the wide world to the care of man
You left the wide world to the care of man,
to maintain, to care for it
but in every word and deed man only wanted to profit
with that which declares his glory
and he treated the earth as if it is substitutable
stripped the sea, chopped the woods down
and to man the earth was no heritage
he caused the atom to escape from its nucleus
thought that like a god he was treading in Your steps
chased after unknown devastation,
saw the hydrogen bomb explode with a bang,
dared the destruction of everything living
and on a ruined planet man is trapped,
in a world where everything is starting to hang in balance.
III. Still we know
Still we know that Your almighty hand
rest on all things
and You are aware about a world that is declining,
are aware about evil and hold everything in check.
Out of You who once made our paradise perfect,
there constantly flows wonderful light
while You watch the words and deeds of man,
keeping our existence in equilibrium.
You prepare the way in advance for every human being
and where man fails
destroys each other, cursing one another,
You have already prepared the outcome in advance
and still You determine over the lot of every man and thing
and in wonder we are waiting on Your return.
[Reference: Gebed vir die aarde (Prayer for the earth) by Johann Lodewyk Marais.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Lord, You Have Got My Country In Your Hand
I
Lord, you have got my country in your hand,
have broken my whole world that’s around me,
stripped it, the precipice is everywhere
and have also taken my whole career.
Like the apostle Paul I stand in your light,
are blinded, try to get some direction,
but am smitten down upon this old earth
with a kind of pain that cuts right through me
still sight is being revealed to me
and where I pray, fall humble at your feet
you know everything, keep protecting me
as the great ruler of the universe.
Sometimes it feels like a life sentence,
but now I really know the true meaning.
II
But now I really know the true meaning
of being your child, your adopted son,
in the night around me, I know no fear
when everything suddenly is worthless
and destiny firmly, definitely
takes my property, wife and her children,
with my life broken as if it cannot heal
my country rejects me as if I am missing
but I had to come to a turn around,
while I still see your bright light shining,
that life sometimes brings a kind of poverty
had to become my own dim reality,
I had to wander in the black darkness,
I had to learn to only hold your hand.
III
I had to learn to only hold your hand,
how long do I have to beg for mercy,
do I have to trust you only blindly,
when real demons reach with their hands to me?
As a human stand against this rebellion,
when my own world is declining with me,
it feels as if darkness folds all over me,
not if Michael is conquering at all.
The onslaught shows that I am straight on target,
that my poems make the enemy vulnerable,
I have to know from the sheer fierceness
that you do win, I am touching crisis points
but teach me to trust childlike upon you,
without my poor faith in you abating.
IV
Without my poor faith in you abating
when I take the road leading to salvation,
let me then hold onto your mighty hand,
even if great evil is around me,
even if I am picking a thorny cane,
even if time passes far too quickly,
it feels I am taking an endless road
but I will get true salvation from you
where all my life is braided together,
trapped in a nest of quite painful thorns,
it is you that decide over my lot,
each day I learn a new kind of lesson,
things get right very slowly, bit by bit
when you free me, when you show me the way.
V
When you free me, when you show me the way
when the night is dark, radiates nothing,
it looks as if I am deteriorating,
when the small golden moon wanders away
your pure light will still fall upon me
where my life is like a bright small flower,
with destiny thundering in destruction,
I become somewhat dead and even dumb,
do not know how to get out of it all,
will you then still be leading me further
to where the sun rises, is bright again,
past my own fear and all of my conceit,
do you still stay with me, when I am down,
in the wet road with lamps in a dim row?
VI
In the wet road with lamps in a dim row
the faint light reflects from the falling rain,
tonight it is where I get purity,
stand washed somewhat clean and pure
against the pattering, falling water
in which there is a great kind of healing,
you understand me and are washing me,
are bringing sincerity, forgiveness
while my deceit washes away from me,
with neon lights surrounded by great fog
I am freed by dropp for dropp that falls down
as if in the storm I find purification,
you again bring me back to conversion,
in no exposure, hero veneration.
VII
In no exposure, hero veneration
praise that the angel of darkness brings,
can I sing his lustre or of his works.
Only to you, God, I am giving glory.
To you I aim my gifts, so insignificant
as a kind of love, as appreciation
as you are protecting this wanderer,
make deep words sprout from me that circle out.
Almighty Lord, I want to sing a psalm
about your love that is self-sacrificing
where you are still ruling everywhere,
about you as a living parable
that reaches with truth through all the darkness,
Lord, you have got my country in your hand.
poem by Gert Strydom
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The thunder storm came suddenly
The thunder storm came suddenly; the air was drawing close,
with grey and black clouds covering the heaven
and suddenly there was no more blue
with the whole day being only grey
while leaves were falling in yellow and brown everywhere,
with the wind cutting icily, trying to grab onto jackets,
untimely the rain came without respect
for the rules of nature,
the thunder storm came suddenly.
Suddenly the weather was in each conversation
of the doctor, lawyer and architect,
as if it contained something incomprehensible and evil
nobody trusted the sudden bad weather;
early in the afternoon people left for home,
the thunder storm came suddenly.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Afternoon rain
Every day this summer
in the late afternoon
the rain just keep pouring down
as if the milling clouds
and the storm has its clock set.
Thunder flashes here and there
white-blue electric bolts
from a sudden grey sky
and big and small drops fall
rushing down to the earth.
Heat rises in steaming white patches
on the hot black tar road
while the first drops make it wet
and water suddenly streams everywhere
in miniature rivers.
People run to reach their cars
and are stuck in huge traffic jams
where cars crawl meters at a time,
while others go to bars
and enjoy a drink or two
and smoke their cigars.
Two teenage girls
that are soaking wet
with T-shirts clinging translucent
dance on the sidewalk
in the falling rain
and their giggles
catches my ear
and suddenly it’s fun to live.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Still I Trust Like A Child
It feels as if my life far too slowly comes right
while I live in a world of darkness
but everywhere that I go You are with me,
in everything that I do, You are present
and on each new morning I am amazed
when the sun cuts through the darkness,
when flowers continually get new life,
when birds are singing twittering everywhere
and still I have got to trust like a child,
cling tighter to the great Fatherly hand,
even when all of my days are falling apart
I still have got to bind closer to You
and when the sun grows faint in the evenings,
You are still the almighty Lord of the universe.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Save Them Father
Father you are always on my mind, I love you Father and trust
in you with all my heart. I have no questions for your decisions,
my faith is strong and true.
Father I’m in awe when I look around this world, when I stand
and take in the awesome views, I know this is the work of the
Master, and that Master for certain is you.
This morning Father I pray for those without faith, who can not
see pass their noses. They have eyes that function, but they
truly can not see.
Father give these blind people the ability to come out from their
deadened shells, touch them with your spirit, let them see the
light.
Oh Father God, drench them with your love so they make no
mistake. Take them by the hand so some day they too will
walk through Heaven’s Gate.
Father sometime young people are taken in by those who have
no interest in their soul but only in the money that they hold.
The devil’s people live among us, taking advantage of many.
Your children need your guidance Father and your continued
patience for I truly believe some day they will come out of the
darkness, walk into the light and face the truth.
Father I leave these people to you, in your caring hands. May
they make Jesus the center of their lives and join their brothers
and sisters who know the truth, save them Father.
I Love you Father and I ask this Lord in the name of your only
Son Jesus.-Amen
Written: Sept.30,2007
poem by Melvina Germain
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Why This World Exists (In Answer To Louis Esterhuizen)
From the moment that I could think
I was wondering why this world does exist,
man is born in a place
where everything goes to destruction and decay?
What kind of God creates a place
where there is pain, suffering and hardship
where catastrophe at times hit mercilessly
as if every thing is going into damnation and darkness?
Some faiths believe that man
reincarnates over and over,
to in the end become part of a god,
have got to live though this desolation time and again.
Only the Christian faith declares
why our world is in this state,
about a almighty God who comes, to take up man’s guilt
with a salvation plan and how its going to end.
If you read the holy Bible carefully,
it’s clear that Lucifer was created perfectly,
that out of his own will he wanted to be equal to God,
he wanted to stop worshipping God.
When he broke the law
he created the biggest crisis in the universe
persuading other angels to act in rebellion,
where Michael (who is like God)
and his angels defended the heaven.
At that moment God could have wiped out Lucifer
and his followers instantaneously
but then everyone would serve Him out of fear and not out of love
and his Godly character did not even consider that possibility
whereupon He made a plan to solve this problem eternally.
God exists from eternity and is without a beginning,
through Jesus Christ, God created the world, by His own hands formed man
in the image of God and blew into him the breath of life,
He created man as two sexes, as man and woman.
Man was instructed to multiply,
to bring forth a own life in his image, to bring forth children,
to rule over the earth, the animals, birds and fishes
and everything was perfect in the whole earth, in every single thing.
It was then that God started the thing called time,
determining a period of time in which sin has got to abate,
where man as ruler had to lie down laws,
had to eat from the fruit of the earth,
proving to the universe that God is only love,
that dominion demands just laws,
going to the meaning
that the creation came from love.
No angels have ever been ordered to multiply
or to reign, Satan wanted to rule,
wanted to receive worship and become a god,
used his opportunity to lead man into darkness
saying in deception as he still does, that man will get knowledge
will become like God and will not die
and man had then lost his glory
(so as if the master of darkness could bring light)
and in free will man chose,
where his choice had an impact on everything,
even cursing his descendants to a damned world
but God came to place Himself in man’s place
and many people believe that I am only telling a myth here,
but my almighty Lord Jesus Christ lives.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Innumerable
His voice thrunders,
His sneeze flashes light,
His eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn,
His fire is lightning!
His limits are higher than the heavens and,
Deeper than the graves;
He is beyond comprehension,
His age is innumerable,
He is beyond our understanding,
His thunder anounces His coming,
But can we understand how He spread out the clouds?
And no man can look directly at the sun!
He does great things that we cannot comprehend,
His breath gives the ice and the broad waters are frozen at once!
But stop and consider the wondrous works of the Almighty! !
For everythin under the heaven belongs to Him.
He stirs up the sea like a pot of an ointment,
And the works of His fingers framed the sun, the moon, the stars and,
All that is in the universe!
His eyes see all things,
And He tests all mankind! !
For he is righteous and He loves righteousness;
And in His honour is life forever.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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The book sealed with seven seals
I had a dream that I heard the voices
of uncountable angels, beings
and elders around the throne of the Almighty One
proclaiming that the lamb that was slain is worthy.
Their appearance was blindingly bright,
but the radiance of the Almighty God on His throne
and of His Son was so intense
that it wanted to burn my eyes
and I stood back
and the hour work started to ring off the last strikes.
When the Son of God
who died on the cross
opened the book that only He can,
He took the book
with His nail marked hands
and broke the first seal.
A being spoke with a voice
sounding like thunder: Come and look!
A white horse appeared
and the rider of it had a crown
and a bow en rode out to conquer
and the hour work started to ring off the last strikes.
A second being talking with lightning
that strikes out said: Come look!
When the Lamb broke the second seal
the head of a flaming red horse appeared
and the rider took a big sword,
to cause nobody to have peace
and the hour work started to ring off the last strikes.
A third being let thunder reverberate
come and look!
When the Son of man
reached His hand to the third seal
there was a pitch-black horse
and the rider took a scale in his hand
and a mighty voice said:
a measure of wheat for a coin
three measures of barley for a coin
and do not harm
the oil and wine
and the hour work started to ring off the last strikes.
A fourth being’s voice carried blue thunder sparks
when he said: come look!
When the Son that is God
opened the fourth seal there was a grey horse
and the rider was death and he rode away,
to kill a forth of the earth
and the weapons that he carried
were a sword, famine, incurable diseases
and ravaging animals
and the hour work started to ring off the last strikes.
Four riders past
and I wondered
what will be left of the world
and the people on it?
When the Messiah opened the fifth seal
the souls of the holy ones
under the altar,
who died for His word
as witnesses of Jesus Christ
with a mighty voice called out:
how long holy and true Ruler
before You judge our blood
on the people on earth?
To them was said
to wait a while more,
for others to fill their numbers
and the hour work started to ring off the last strikes.
When Christ opened the sixth seal
places on earth started shaking,
the sun was dark
and disappeared for a time,
the moon was red like blood
and the stars fell from the sky
and draw bright lines
as far as they fell
and I knew that I
was living in the last days
and the hour work started to ring off the last strikes.
l’Envoi
Today I wonder where I stand
in all of these things,
while shots of war
are roaring
and everyone lives only for himself,
and the might of God
falls on the earth
and the hour of His anger
almost touch the horizon
and the hour work has only minutes left.
[Reference: Revelation 5: 13-6: 17.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Far Too Little I Know
I
Far too little I know about the things that lie between us,
I see the sea drawing back and rushing in,
I know too little to tell you about my love,
see your tracks disappearing over a sand dune.
I know too little to talk about a secret,
how one day can be so very special,
filled with life changing meaning,
about the things that I read in your eyes
but that that you really love me,
I know before the sea wipes our tracks away
when I kiss you and get you giggling,
while we give new steps into life
when you became the meaning in my small universe;
if you were the light falling through the window on me.
II
If you were the light falling through the window on me,
a star shining at night against the sky,
I would have been able to admire you, in days without end
but now thunder flashes down
whiter than daylight into my life
becoming part of my life,
to again jump to somewhere else
as if single moments are everything
and far too short was the time that you could stay,
with almost endless cheerfulness that you could bring
in this tough world as part of me,
where my heart could sing songs of joy
and far too little time I had invested in you,
how should I have known that I would make an oath with you?
III
How should I have know that I would make a oath with you
before I met you,
have a concept of such intimate feelings,
as with which you are part of my whole world?
How must I have know the meaning
of faith, love and hope
and about professing of true love
before our lives started together
on ways that I could not expect
and could learn to love
past events, years and times reaching to maybe,
that you are part of everything in me?
I want to love you as in days long past,
in the winter of my life.
IV
In the winter of my life
when all the trees around me stand skeleton,
with stripped branches shivering in the wind,
with sometimes a thunder bashing down
I sometimes remember the look in your sea-green eyes
where colours so secretly come together,
even when my body bend like branches, bended by age
as if in my thoughts they are looking forever at me,
it’s as if a new spring just have got to come,
as if your arms surround my neck,
with you flowering anew
as a angel of light
it’s sometimes as is you are with me,
when the morning starts with its first rays.
V
When the morning starts with its first rays,
with the sky changing from twilight grey to blue,
hang with the moon still hanging white
I am caught like a lizard
that prays to the sun,
where it’s rising white hot,
where I sit before your photograph
that shows every bit of your beauty,
but the nights and months past
while every day you look back
from that photograph
and I wonder if you still do love me?
and I think certainly, you are just as pretty,
when the sun throws its last rays over the trees.
VI
When the sun throws its last rays over the trees,
drawing shadows out long
before it reaches out
with long orange red rays
and the streetlights suddenly are awakening
give eyes to poles, becoming orange yellow
then I know
that you are somewhere else and just as pretty,
that you are laughing somewhere else,
caring after your children, doing your duties,
stretching yourself out for the night,
after kissing your children goodnight
and I am really longing while I am waiting,
I miss the way that you laugh in pleasure.
VII
I miss the way that you laugh in pleasure,
how you cry for a beautiful movie,
even expecting something good out of poor things,
how on a dark rainy night you shelter against me,
the way that you look at me,
the feelings that you bring to me,
as if you’re green eyes shines like the sea,
with every word going into my depths
but time takes an own road
and destiny is without mercy,
where at a time we both had to go different directions
and still try to jump over horizons with words
and maybe I have to court you again anew,
far too little I know about the things that lie between us.
poem by Gert Strydom
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My Trust in Him
The almighty is the strength of my hopes
Better than the taste and the scent of many dopes
The almighty is my daily brook of unending joy
Happy am I for of this I shall continually enjoy
The almighty is the foundation of my life
How can I ever fret for any stubborn strife
The almighty is the owner of my everyday
How I keep every fear and foe at bay
God is my trust, I mind not the nervous nights
God is my trust, I sorrow not in my many plights
For the moon that shied away behind the cloud
Will so soon shine away from it no doubt
The trials may seem to be many
I trust in God, I trust not any
The trials in my path will so soon disappear
Smooth stones will so soon pave my track
My joy has come now it is near
My heart is now seasoned with joy
The pain that was is no more there
My light now shines, I can now enjoy
-Jude Adebosoye Ogunade
poem by Jude Ogunade
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Cloudburst (terzanelle)
The clouds are dark as the night
until the sky opens it sluices
with here and there light
pouring down gathered juices
with wild bolts of blue-white thunder
until the sky opens it sluices
with lightning falling with feelers, ready to plunder
splitting trees, setting the veldt alight
with wild bolts of blue-white thunder
bashing down, and people flee in fright
and hail, thunder and rain pelts down
splitting trees, setting the veldt alight
splattering in fury, causing people to drown
and man and beast is desolate
and hail, thunder and rain pelts down
with people struggling past fear, past hope, past hate.
The clouds are dark as the night
and man and beast is desolate
with here and there light.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Notes About The Situation In Our Country
(in answer to Johan Steyn)
I. In the times that we live
In the times that we live
darkness sometimes gets the upper hand,
with tragic things happing in this country
while we still strive for a better place
we go into a life
where innocence is missing and we are off guard
stripped from opportunities and halfway beached
where we have to live in the bustle
where people are killed, tortured and robbed,
where the ruling party is singing inciting songs,
where we cannot decide on a plan of action
and even being humane is curtailed
while the harsh reality penetrates
that alone we cannot stop the overwhelming enemies.
II. During the night we hide in yards that are wired with electricity
During the night we hide in yards that are wired with electricity,
behind walls and steel palisades,
taking notice of the neighbourhood,
making daily adjustments to our lives
and when car hijackers strike at us on the road
we pray and hope to survive,
we let them just go on
while we are dumfounded by fear
and some of our family members and friends are tortured to death,
are raped and robbed while the police cannot stop these crimes,
but we encourage each other and tell one another
that every thing is all right and things are totally out of control,
but Satanists behead people
and there are criminals walk away from raping children.
III. People of our friends and family with qualifications are without work
People of our friends and family with qualifications are without work,
while it is now almost impossible to find something,
with jobs being restricted to black people by affirmative action
and so time passes, years pass
while impoverishment sneak in among white people,
with people begging and looking after cars on the street,
with hundreds of uneducated people getting jobs
and somewhere everything honourable
has been lost with time
while misfortune and decline is appearing everywhere,
we hear about the wretched lives of others,
people come with a confession
that life has caught them off guard,
with their existence only hanging on a thin thread.
IV. When we laugh it only hides bitterness
When we laugh it only hides bitterness
the blue sky, flowers in our gardens pass us,
we hear of some more Afrikaners dying on farms
and in towns and slowly but certainly the destruction spreads.
Out of despair husbands kill their whole families and themselves
(shot after shot resounds)
from them who still have firearms,
after the new laws.
The black government is afraid, that we will resist them
and arrests people left, right and centre
who they see as terrorists
and hold them forever and a day
while the planters of bombs
sit blessed in parliament.
V. There are some people that lay their hands on liquor
There are some people that lay their hands on liquor
and live as if everything is just for today,
they fornicate with the wives of others,
trampling their own people into the ground,
walk over each other to get somewhere in life
or to chase after money
and we live in times of great darkness
where love for the fellow man, awe and respect are missing
where children bear false witness against their parents,
(when they themselves do criminal deeds) ,
turning against their own culture, people and even religion,
using drugs, are fornicating while at school
and overnight our world has changed
to a place where crime and darkness has the upper hand.
VI. Even God is on sale
Even God is on sale
and people jump up and down in churches,
trying to feel the presence of God
in a experience religion
where everyone places his own things in the trolley
as it fits him,
grouping around somewhat in darkness
forgetting to consult the Holy Bible,
Jesus Christ is declared to be only human
and a relationship with him
by some is seen as absurdity
that only people with superstition do
and some wants to trample Satan himself under their shoes
while he is walking free next to them.
VII. Now we wonder from where this decay comes?
Now we wonder form where this decay comes,
while our world suddenly is turned upside down?
With the new government the school structure has been changed,
the cane has disappeared from the classroom, respect has walked out
and religion, the trust in an almighty God,
an own culture, the urge to follow own values,
to speak our own language and to retain a own identity
and the commandments of God has been systematically substituted
by human rights, children’s rights and the following
of a science where humans through theosophy
and new age doctrines are seen as equal to God
where man becomes a god in himself
and now suddenly we see darkness
when the darkness and decay is everywhere.
VIII. We cannot exist in darkness
We cannot exist in darkness,
we have the witness of our fathers, from a time when escape was impossible,
where God in a covenant Himself stood with them
and still everyone is protected by the mighty hand of God,
He draws His laager around everyone that fears Him,
who faithfully keep to the words of His holy word
and still we have got to be brave
in this time where we witness the destruction of our brothers
as God Himself stays true,
His kingdom cannot waver or crumble,
even when the thickest darkness folds around us,
nothing can wheedle us away
from the salvation that God is going to bring,
even if it looks as if darkness is stretching wider and wider.
[Reference: Kanttekeninge by ‘n vers van Brecht (Marginal notes at a verse of Brecht) by Johan Steyn.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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My Apocryphal Song of Songs
Song of Songs: Chapter one
When my darling is still slumbering
the blanket drawn up to her chin,
lying peaceful
I am without words
when the day brake red across the mountain’s comb
she is still stretched out
while the sun lovingly
stirs its first fingers
and when she moves
her big golden bracelet shines
pearls around her neck glitter
like the dewdrops
outside on the grass and trees,
like the golden colour of the sun
that now hangs high above the horizon
and I can catch the first white gleaming
of her smile
the morning wind swirls
singing over the glory
that she brings to my life
her eyes glitters brighter than the heaven
with their own rays and meaning
that is caught in her glance,
she looks lovely and fresh
and I know that God is blessing me
with her presence,
where He binds us together
in moments of time.
Song of Songs: Chapter two
I want to feel the rays of sun in your eyes
being lost over my body,
bending over your body
I want to take the core out of your soul,
I want to feel the pulse beat of your heart
in your naked breast,
through the pleasure and pain of this life
I want to long day after day for you
and abate all my passion, all my joy in you,
carrying you along through the times of my life,
catching moments in the glory of bliss,
making you to my most honourable aspiration
and tonight I want to come to you,
to make you mine.
Song of Songs: Chapter three
When I saw you
words curled up in my mouth,
my voice suddenly became hoarse
and I were wondering how your smile looks
while you were looking in my direction
and suddenly my thoughts were blunted off
when I saw passion in your eyes,
in my thoughts I had undressed you already,
removing your garments one by one,
but when your lips were burning beneath mine,
our conversation had dried up altogether
and we melted into each other: eye into eye.
Song of Songs: Chapter four
Your first kisses caught me,
with your bright eyes
later your lips were against my cheek
after which you and I
wanted more intimacy
with intensity hanging in every moment,
the sound of your voice was like the singing of birds
and closer contact we could not avoid
we french kissed
like mature people do
this kind of thing
with joy and scouting
and your eyes were full of intense wishes
with moments of passion and tenderness.
Song of Songs: Chapter five
When I stood below your window,
the light in you room went on suddenly
but it was no love-song,
but poems that I was presenting to you
of my love that I held out to you,
like a bush of red roses
and I believed
that you could hear them
right through your sleep.
Song of Songs: Chapter six
Early in the morning, when the fog was concealing the world,
your breath was caught against my cheek,
when the sun’s first rays were teasing with long fingers.
Early in the morning when the fog was concealing the world,
your breath was like the wind over mountains and valleys
while mist hanged like the breath of the world in the basins,
early in the morning when the fog was concealing the world,
when the sun’s first rays were teasing with long fingers.
Song of Songs: Chapter seven
Early morning with the call of guinea fowl in the field
the morning is already preparing,
the rays of the sun break through the nightly cloak,
the sun breaks through the nightly wall
with the day spreading to everywhere
like the gleaming of your eyes she smiles broadly.
Early morning with the call of guinea fowl in the field
the morning is already preparing,
and between you and me there’s an invisible band
that binds the essence of love with an oath,
you are with me through all happiness and sorrow,
I feel you nearness, even you small soft hand
early morning, with the call of guinea fowl in the field.
Song of Songs: Chapter eight
To sing of your beauty, I want to catch nature,
causing the sun’s rays to splash brightly on your cheek,
with my feelings at times caught in a labyrinth
we are bonded in the dark night to each other
with kisses hanging over our entire bodies.
Your eyes are bluer than the sky, your hair threaded out by the wind
and when you sleep I am already longing,
but in the mornings I too blinded by your smile
to sing of your beauty.
Sometimes you twist beneath me like a pretty snake,
the knowledge that we are mortal scares me,
I see the autumn tinted into your hair,
while you smile in a noble and innocent way like a child,
I try to catch that which is between us in words
to sing of your beauty.
Song of Songs: Chapter nine
In the pool of the fountain
the sky reflects cobalt blue
and shadows fall over the inner court
and there is images sprouting whirling in my mind
of me and of you
in the pool of the fountain
and you are like an angel surrounded by sunshine
where we cling to each other dripping wet
and shadows fall over the inner court
and even the wind blows with a song, a refrain
and there are pure white lilies that I look at
in the pool of the fountain
and the time spent with you is noble and pure
while we try to stretch moments to preserve them
and shadows fall over the inner court
drawing the two of us, line fall upon line
the sky reflects cobalt blue
in the pool of the fountain
and shadows fall over the inner court
Song of Songs: Chapter ten
With your lovely face
and bright blue eyes
you can at any time disrupt my life,
a single word causes me to believe in your love,
your soft lips, the blush on your cheek
and bright blue eyes
holds me captured,
the sound of your voice,
your soft lips, the blush on your cheek
clenches around my heart,
with your soft hand folding around mine,
the sound of your voice
is that of a beautiful woman
and with knowledge of how perfect you are to me
with your soft hand folding around mine,
you surprise me time and again.
With your lovely face
and with knowledge of how perfect you are to me
you can at any time disrupt my life.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Storm In A Teacup
The sky is bright blue, but there's a big patch of grey;
I can hear thunder: there's a storm heading this way.
At present, my world is glowing with glorious sun,
But I'm not looking forward to what is to come.
The rolls of thunder are resonating quite far apart,
But hearing them, quickens the beat of my heart.
The day, so far, has been a mix of sun and of rain,
But, thankfully, the sun has prevailed, in the main.
The dark clouds overhead, are as grey as iron;
The thunder roars loudly, like a mighty lion.
I'm really hoping that there will be no lightning;
As an adult, I still find storms quite frightening.
I had been planning to take a steady stroll into town,
But, chances are, that rain will soon be falling down.
The sun continues to shine, and there's little thunder;
Should I take a gamble with the weather, I wonder?
But, I bet as soon as I put a foot out of the door,
The Heavens will open, and the rain will pour.
A short time passes; the sun slowly disappears.
Suddenly, from Heaven, there rains infinite tears.
Luckily, we are spared from a full-blown storm,
And soon the sun reappears, so nice and warm.
The thunder doesn't last long: it soon passes by,
And, I'm feeling glad I stayed at home in the dry.
poem by Angela Wybrow
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