Innocent White Civilian People Were Slaughtered (In Answer To Don Mattera)
Innocent white civilian people were once walking
on Church Street in Pretoria; they were men,
women and children
busy with their daily lives,
some just having gone shopping,
some meeting a loved one in a restaurant
others returning from school
and they were doing nobody any harm.
By orders of Nelson Rolilahla Dalinbunga Mandela,
without any kind of alarm or warning,
a car bomb was set and exploded thundering
throwing shrapnel, making glass fall like rain
and black people took pride
at the sheer slaughter, at the falling,
the maiming, the decimating and dying of innocents
and that day remains a bitter thing.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Related quotes
In The Time That It Takes To Park A Cream Coloured Car
On a autumn day in the time
that it takes to park a cream coloured car
a devastating ball of fire, of flame
detonates shattering
in Church Street, Pretoria
on the twentieth of May nineteen eighty three
causing shrapnel to fly down in the street
splintering, scattering
flying, piercing glass
from all the buildings facing the street
in a deadly shimmering rain
murdering, maiming blowing to bits
the innocent civilian men, women and children
passing by in the street
for a political cause
giving a loud hell of a bang
of a applause
as if the whole of humanity
has gone insane
leaving blood, guts, body parts
and the survivors in terrible pain.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Church Street Bomb blast
Forgive
forgive them
who set the bomb
slaughtering nineteen people
wounding and maiming two hundred more
who sit in parliament with blood on their hands
being responsible in ordering numerous killings,
not being held responsible or caring about it now,
killing innocent civilian children, women and men
whose blood, body parts, guts and broken bodies I saw
and now the elements have washed away what was left of some
and yet I will not forget this madness and cruelty, which made man loose all humanity.
poem by Gert Strydom
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My friend you talk about my people and me
My friend you talk
about my people and me
being equal
to Hitler and the Germans
of the Second World War,
but do not know
that I and most of us Afrikaners
treated black people
like human beings,
never lifted a hand
against one,
that I knew from being
a toddler that they were
Christians as well
when my mother
gave the money that was left
from my father’s funeral fund
for a church to be constructed
in their own community.
How I saw the effect
of the Church Street bomb
killing innocent civilians
on the street
men, women and children
from any race.
How I was forced
to go to the army
and to war
and patriotic did my duty there
to stop communists killing,
raping and robbing the future
like they did in East Germany,
Hungary in sixty-eight
and with the Portuguese
still living in Mozambique
and in Angola
when that countries
got their independence.
How in Soweto with the army
I had to stop black people
killing black people,
burning their fellow man alive
while their women were
cheering them on
and I saw man more being animals
than human beings
without having any mercy
for each other
having lost all conscience
for their cruel deeds.
You do not know
that I will not quarter
for a country
full of pirates
and not the Orlando
soccer playing type
but people who rob,
kill, maim and rape
that there’s no other escape
for Afrikaner people like me
and nowhere else to go
that I love this land
maybe more than
my forefathers did
who sacrificed
their lives for it
that my great grandfather Japie Strydom
lost his farm in the Cape colony
when as a Cape rebel
he joined the war
against the British,
was almost executed
when the war ended
was imprisoned on St. Helena,
that his wife
died in a British concentration camp
where she was fed finely grinded glass
in the flour given to her
that I want to get rid
of oppression against me
and my fellow Afrikaners
and want to have a life
like any one else.
poem by Gert Strydom
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To someone that I loved
I. The odours of jasmine
The odours of jasmine, gardenia
and lavender sneaks in
through the room’s window
and it smells like a perfumery
while rays upon rays march over the bed
climbing over your arms, body and legs
while we lie stretched out
close to each other,
ignoring the sounds from the street,
where cars rush by,
the barks of the dogs
yelping at passing strangers,
only when you wake up,
I draw the curtains shut
as we feel the coldness of twilight
and join in body and soul.
II. On the porch we watch the setting sun
On the porch we watch the setting sun,
while sweet St. Anna wine
sparkles in our glasses
and there’s an intimacy,
a type of tranquillity
in the experience of early evening
while lights shine yellow and white in the distance,
the bottom of the clouds is almost ruby-red,
the black are already darkening some clouds,
while other remains snowy-white
the darkness catches us
with a full yellow moon
and like naughty children
we sneak into our house,
we sneak into our own bedroom
while joy foams like champagne
we are very intimately together
melting into one body
and while your hand later
still caress my back like a butterfly
barely touching here and there
I realise that you are the best part of me,
with your soft sweet lips
barely touching my cheek,
your hot breath against my body.
III. While the night is being born
While the night is being born,
the darkness sneaks into our house,
sneaks into our bedroom,
a sudden breeze begins blowing
far off against the horizon
near to the Magaliesberg mountains
blue-white streaks of thunder
flashes like canon fire
while we can smell
the scent of rain, of wet earth
on the breeze that is blowing stronger,
tossing the small potato trees to and thro
your face is full of terror
in the light of a lightning bolt
falling just outside of the window
and your eyes look big and white
while I cuddle you close to me
and your arms enfold, wrap around me drawing
me still closer and suddenly
the night is chilly
while big drops of rain pound down,
splashing until the rain pours like a torrent
and we find comfort in each other
melting with passion into one another.
IV. The alarm clock wakes me
The alarm clock wakes me
while it’s still twilight
and with the falling rain
the early morning is still dark
as if the night is lingering.
Outside the large jacaranda trees
wave in the storm wind
dropping purple-blue flowers
like a shower of confetti
and the street gleams
while cars drive past splashing
water in a spray
and we have to get ready
for the new day
and quite lazily you stretch out,
drawing me back to bed,
drawing me close to you,
drawing me into your warmth
while our lips, bodies and limbs
intertwine to become one.
V. We agree to meet for lunch
We agree to meet for lunch
in a restaurant just off church street
on a autumn day
on the twentieth of May
and you are smiling,
lifting a glass of red champagne,
when so near that we can feel the wind of it
a tremendous explosion erupts shattering,
shattering the innocent people in Church Street
with deadly sharp pieces of glass and concrete
and I pull you down to the ground
as we take cover behind the small table
where we were eating,
the air is suddenly full
with the sound of people
screaming in pain and terror
and as we rush out,
going into Church Street
and there’s blood and guts everywhere
with terrified, screaming, mutilated
and wounded people
where ever we look
and you cry in relieve of escape,
in sheer terror and shock
and the world has gone amok.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Crying against the wind
I
I saw boys growing up as
Christians,
learning about God,
being taught at school,
to respect
about discipline,
to stretch the mind
and the boys were young and innocent
and for us there were peace.
We slept with unlocked doors,
the police did their job
to the best of their ability,
but the world changed.
II
I saw the effects
of the terrorist bomb
in church street
that smote the innocent
people in the street
and young and old
men, women
scarred, mutilated, maimed,
and cut into bits and pieces
by shrapnel and the deadly
rain of flying glass.
I saw an academic hospital
filled in every hall,
and the few doctors
and paramedics and sisters and nurses
and accountants, clerks,
and office people
issuing disaster cards
and admitting the living.
III
I saw young boys forced to become
a part of a deadly war machine,
and they were barbered, drilled, cursed
and trained to be the best soldiers,
learning discipline,
the strength found in oneself,
about friendship
and suffering the consequences
of killing humans beings.
I saw young men
playing Russian roulette
and at times
wishing to be dead
and I saw boys
becoming better persons
than they were
and starting to be
true believers
of the almighty One
and others turning
into the worst
kind of human beings
and losing all religion,
Integrity and decency
and the madness of hate
taking its toll
I saw boys going
through dense bush,
living in the field,
tracking and destroying deadly terrorists
as just another day’s work,
driving armed vehicles
and battle tanks,
fighting against great odds
and winning every battle
and the war.
I saw war,
the destruction,
the desolation that it brings,
the suffering of the innocent,
the savage carnage
and dead enemies
in great numbers
and people with shot off
legs and arms.
I saw friends die,
shot to pieces,
toasted by prosperous projectiles,
smashed by mortars
and killed
in most of the ways that war brings
and politicians lying and deposing
each other
and the world changed.
IV
I saw religious fanatics
killing innocent people,
crashing planes into buildings,
getting the war
that they begged for,
dying the death
which they sought
and innocent bystanders
paying the toll
for their deeds
and the world changed.
V
I saw the borders being thrown open
to all of Africa,
criminals streaming in,
selling drugs, running prostitution,
lost two cars
to robbers that the insurance
did not pay
and my best friend
left the country
after a hijacking.
I saw children
smoking marijuana, doing crack cocaine,
injecting themselves with heroine
living like vagrants,
whoring around,
robbing from their parents,
braking into houses,
escaping from rehabilitation,
going to jail,
losing the reasons to live,
desperately trying to get the next fix
and dying from drugs and Aids.
VI
I saw reverse racism
that changed laws,
discrimination,
white people with degrees
and experience without work,
while untrained black people
brought every government department
but the taxman
almost to a standstill
and foreign black aliens from all over Africa
having greater rights
and electricity being cut
and the country was in darkness
and the people lived in poverty
and tatters
while they thought about what they had lost
and nobody was counting the cost
and the oppressed were crying in vain
against the wind
and waiting for the rain
that brings life back again.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Hovering I Saw A Redbreast And A Wren (Roundelay)
Hovering I saw a redbreast and a wren,
who were both very scared of men
and to me both birds had some lovely charm,
as innocents to which I meant no harm.
Fluttering some cooing wild doves came down
making my small garden their very own
some pecked bread or landed on my arm,
as innocents to which I meant no harm.
Pecking some hoopoes landed in my yard
and the two of them was never apart,
fleeing in their scared heart throbbing alarm
as innocents to which I meant no harm.
poem by Gert Strydom
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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
quote by Nelson Mandela
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Vive La Vida
In this world there is so much anger
Our lives are in danger
We are all living in fears
We've got to stop the tears
Chorus: life is for living
So why must we wait
We all need some loving
So then why do we hate?
In south africa things are still the same
The face of humanity still hasn't changed
People have to fight to live together
And share with one another
Chorus
We can change this to a better place for all
If we listen to others when they call
Give a shoulder to lean on when they fall
Let us bring down the apartheid wall
Innocent people pay with their lives
Cause the truth, it cuts like a knife
Mandela's life is wasted in jail
Raise your voices for freedom
Chorus ( 3 x)
Woza mandela
Sibizi' gama lakho
Woza mandela
song performed by by Santana
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
quote by Nelson Mandela
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Early morning ride
Early in the morning
hawkers are standing next to the street
and they sell flowers, newspapers,
cigarettes and sweets.
At church square two doves are pairing
on uncle Paul’s head,
while people walk to and fro
and some are in lines
to buy bus tickets
It’s another thing when you are
stressed out
and are scared,
to be late at a new job.
a Bus stands with a closed door
making fumes,
while the driver is walking around inside
and already there are a large number of people
lining up in a queue.
a Pair of love stricken young people
are holding hands
and talk about the previous nights
party and drinks
that they enjoyed
and I try to see the route
to know were I have to get off.
School children tease each other
as far as we go
and time gets wings
and rushes by
and suddenly
I have to disembark.
poem by Gert Strydom
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The Asker...
i hear the sounds of engines
running the road, and then the children
holding hands lead by the mother
there are screeches of brakes
a busy street, a mob of people
an entrance to the mall filled with
so many people,
i see a taxi unloading passengers
i chance upon a falling rain
and two lovers running for shelter
blinking lights against a dark night
smoke from the lips of waiters
clicking high heels of women on
shiny tiles,
how can i just be another disinterested
onlooker? how can i seal my ears and
live a world where i am just the only
occupant?
how can i cease to be this one kind
of child asking so many questions?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Falling In Love
Falling keep on falling
Keep on falling love
Now I dont mind
All this running around
Seems Ive been doing it
Most of my life
My musics been kind
But some days I find
It brings me two kinds of trouble
And three kinds of strife
So dont try to compare it
cause I just want to
Share it with some people
I like to call friends
There aint nothing bad and
No need to feel sad
And theres certainly no need
To make amends
It wont do you no harm and
Theres no cause for alarm
I wont be praying for
Help from above
If the only thing
Wrong with rock and roll
Is that I keep on falling in love
If the only thing
Wrong with rock and roll
Is that I keep on falling
Keep on falling
Keep on falling in love
song performed by by Uriah Heep
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Restaurant fragments
That day we were in Burgundy’s
and somebody played the notes
of “Ballade pour Adeline”
on the piano
and it was peaceful in that restaurant
while a waiter brought the menu
and I ordered a bottle of white wine for you
and drank a glass of golden Hunters.
You were busy with your notebook
and were searching for a shopping list
as if suddenly it had disappeared
but everything was inter-textual
and our life played out in small happenings.
Much too quickly the time between us
was running out
so as if you already
had other greener pastures
and you were busy with the list
of things that we have to buy
and the quietness of the restaurant
came to lie in my heart.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Sabbath
Early in the morning
they sit rather proper in the benches
and sing out joyously
and read the Word
and rolls of notes
are in the offering plate.
Sometimes I see them look
at people in the street,
as if they are a little beneath them
and circle around
a blind beggar.
Dressed in church suits
and designer dresses
I see them in the cafe,
the chain store,
restaurant
and even at the movies.
They are buying bread and milk,
sometimes a bottle of wine
and husband and wife
and at times
all of their children with them
are peacefully
going through the shops
or wait for tickets
in a row.
Every thing happens
as if they do not have
another time
for all of these things
and in the restaurant
jokes are told
that even people
at other tables can hear
and I wonder where and why
man has lost
his respect for God
and of His day.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Beginning of destruction
pride it’s all your fault
Pride it’s all your fault we in this mess
Pride it’s all your fault we are suffering
Pride it’s all your fault people are shedding blood
Pride it’s all your fault families are destroyed
Pride it’s all your fault people are so greedy and selfish
Pride it’s all your fault people have no love
Pride it’s all your fault are so jealous of each other
Pride it’s all your fault people are so lost
Pride it’s all your fault dying from this horrible diseases
Pride it’s all your fault we have so many orphans
Pride it’s all your fault people are betraying each other
Pride it’s all your fault are dying of hunger
Pride it’s all your fault fathers are sleeping with their children
Pride it’s all your fault people are so heartless
Pride it’s all your fault there is no peace, unity and harmony in this world
Pride it’s all your fault we have all this sorrow
Pride it’s all your fault God has rejected us
Pride it’s all your fault people are so evil
And they have decided to be in love with evil rather than good
You have ruined this world
You are to blame for all this misery
If lucifer did not have pride in his heart we wouldn’t be in this mess
Pride it all your fault! ! !
Vangile Mtyali
poem by Vangile Mtyali
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The secret war that is raging in South Africa
The secret war that is raging in South Africa
asks for white blood,
these black people first kill and torture
before they take your possessions.
Incident upon incident I can tell about
where white families have been killed,
just think about the Orffer family
who was killed in Stellenbosch
on Friday 31 July 1994
by black people:
First the trustworthy black maid Sannetjie,
who tried to ward off the attackers with her bare hands
like a Amakeia of days gone,
then the blonde small girl
then the dad and the deaf little boy
and last the mother
were chopped with a axe to death
and everywhere there was blood.
Nowadays the tendency is
to first bind up the head of the family,
the man, to assault him
and to torture him to death in front of his family
and then to rape the women,
even toddlers and babies
and if the women are lucky
they survive
when the criminals
leave with their possessions
and it seems as if the police
do not want to, or are not able to stop this thing
and then it is claimed
that these people kill and steal
because they are hungry, while people in government
sings songs to wipe out whites.
From April 1994 when Nelson Mandela became president
the wiping out of white families is our destiny,
the Afrikaner nation is in the melting pot
we who have an own culture, language and identity,
who cannot become part of the hurly-burly
are killed, not only robbed
but tortured and horribly killed
and our women and children are raped.
Even Eugene Terreblancé
had befallen this same lot
and if this is not a war
that is raging against us,
where we are systematically
bit by bit, family by family
wiped out, and the numbers
are already in the thousands, then what is it?
[References: Klaaglied: Stellenbosch, Vrydag,31 Julie 1994 (Song of lamentation: Stellenbosch, Friday,31 Julie 1994) by Lina Spies. Amakeia by A. G. Visser, Amakeia, Amakeia then and now by Gert Strydom.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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A Symbol For Peace, Freedom And Justice
To want freedom and justice for his people was Mandela's only crime
And his freedom taken from him and in jail he spent his prime
But the first democratically elected President of South Africa not one to hold a grudge
His former oppressors he's forgiven he does not condemn or judge.
The now ex President of South Africa is a legend in his time
His potrait painted by famous artists and he's inspired the bards to rhyme
His fame has spread around the World far distant from his Country's shore
And the name of Nelson Mandela destined to live forever more.
He was wrongfully imprisoned yet a grudge he does not hold
And his life well documented and his story often told
In his old age quite a hero and so many he inspire
And a fellow like Mandela is so easy to admire
One of the few inspirational figures in the history of human
kind
And his equals are not many people like him hard to find
A symbol for peace, freedom and justice he is one who can forgive
And the name of Nelson Mandela forever is destined to live.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Do You Care? Do You Care?
there are people dying everywhere,
do you care? do you care?
there are people hungry everywhere,
do you care? do you care?
gunshots, bomb drops,
thunder splits the sky.
preacher on the tv,
says you're gonna die.
patriots, deviants,
doors ripped off the hinge.
children eating fathers,
freedom on the fringe!
equality, dignity,
slam the prison doors.
bodies in the ditch,
aint nobody keeping score.
nuclear rain, cocaine,
oceans full of oil.
god died, the president lied,
coming to a boil.
there are people dying everywhere,
do you care? do you care?
there are people hungry everywhere,
do you care? do you care?
black skin, white skin,
grated till they bleed.
angry men without hope,
taking what they need.
well paid lies, cut the ties,
glass figures stand in line.
love screams, shattered dreams,
the blind lead the blind!
trees cut, doors shut,
food stamps and day old bread.
schools closed, books burned,
hear the cry of the dead.
injustice rages, guilty pages,
we reap what we have sowed.
this world on fire, with desire,
the truth the final code!
there are people dying everywhere,
do you care? do you care?
there are people hungry everywhere,
do you care? do you care?
poem by Eric Cockrell
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The Sky Is Falling
Time will tell
Give some new meaning now
What it really takes to survive
Time will prove
That my fears, all were coming true
Now that youre leaving my life
Clouding up, think l see rain,and now
Oh no, lm feeling the pain
So far the omens are saying
That a stormy time is coming again
Chorus:
The sky is falling
No early warning
Theres no returning
Lts the end of the loving
The sky is falling
No early warning
Theres no returning
The sky is falling
Coming down
Oh baby its all around
Waves are washing over me
Weathered through other storms
Yeah they seemed so long
But not as hard as this will be
Dont we know, havent we learned by now
Hurt love and youre gonna cry
Oh baby nothing can save us now
My heart is as dark as the sky
Chorus:
The sky ja falling
No early warning
Theres no returning
Lts the end of the loving
The sky is falling
No early warning
Theres no returning
The sky is falling
Gotta turn my back on the feeling
So I can face the world
Dont you know my heart stopped believing
And I just cant keep reaching
For love
Chorus: (repeat)
song performed by by Hall & Oates
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Watching The World Go Past
I sit on the front step
Just watching the world go past
People walking
People talking
I see people running from themselves
People walking their best friends
Children playing with others hearts
Teenage girls crying over the past
I just and watch the sun set
Signalling that a new day will begin soon
I watch the rising of the moon
And the dots getting ever so brighter
Watch people fall in love
People smile as if nothings wrong
I watch all the people who have nothing to do
Watching people who have nothing to loose
I sit and watch the different lives form
Watching the new scene starting
The new lives beginning with a smile
The lives coming to and end
I sit on the front step
Just watching the world go past
People walking
People talking
poem by Lesley Bass
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