Karoo Days - Alexander May

7/29/2019 Karoo Days - Alexander May

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KAROO DAYS

Alexander May


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Copyright 2013, Alexander May

ISBN978-0-620-58285-8

All rights reserved. This book contains material protected under internationalcopyright laws and treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is

prohibited. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, by any

information storage / retrieval system or otherwise, without prior written

consent of the author.


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Keep on feeling and writing.

Etienne


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CONTENTS

Graaff Reinet

Late afternoon in my study

Caledon Street

Karoobossie

Aberdeen

Heatwave

Sometimes

Sunday afternoon

Church

Summer rains

The flower

Eerstefontein

Pear tree lanes

Reminder


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PARLIAMENT STREET

Along the centuries-old Drostdy walls

and sidewalks lined with cypresses

Scents of late orange blossoms

envelops you

Conjuring up foggy memories

The street burning your bare feet:

An initiating walk-on-fire

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LATE AFTERNOON IN MY STUDY

Late afternoon the Karoo-sun battles

with trees and leaves

to be noticed

The shadows dance and play

on the ground

like children

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CALEDON STREET

Lines of trees haunt the street

Standing ghosts of ancient giants,

soldiers on the front line

of an archaic battle

Guardians of mankind

against the wrath of the sun

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KAROOBOSSIE

Grey and commonplace

spikey like a porcupine

Life-giver to the Karooand its inhabitants

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ABERDEEN

Dusty streets lined with trees

and dry water channels

petrified veins in the scorching sun

The large stately homes

hinting at a more favourable era

Shells of buildings filled with

memories of farmers markets

and ghosts of Jewish pedlars

Monuments of rubble and decay

to drunken street kids

and tumbleweeds.

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HEATWAVE

People shambling down the street

reminding of sloths

The merciless heat

has broken their souls

Stoic phantoms

lethargic and lazy

begging for shade

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SOMETIMES

Sometimes you wonder

if God has forgotten

that he made the Karoo

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SUNDAY AFTERNOONS

In dusty Karoo towns

Sunday afternoons are

sentences of solitary confinement

Deserted streets

closed doors and windows

No sign of life

One wonders if the rapture

has taken place

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ABERDEEN CHURCH

The white tower reaches for the heavens

a lighthouse in a motionless sea of grey

Beckoning the road-weary traveller

like a palm tree at a desert oasis

While an ominous fence of black spears

keeps the unwanted at bay

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SUMMER RAIN

The purple and grey clouds

come like giant airships

baptizing the veld with millions of drops

falling gently like feathers

The plants dance merrily

earth sings a serenade of thanks

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THE FLOWER

Walking on a venerable plain of Karoo

mother and child admires landscapes and

contrasts

The boy sees a flower

and picks it as a bounty

At home she places it in a vase

but his dejected expression makes her question

He replies,

Maybe I should have left it

it doesnt look nearly as pretty

as it did in the veld.

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EERSTEFONTEIN

Hiding in the shadows of volcanic fingers

a fairy garden in the midst of arid desolation

A canopy of dense trees

offers shelter and clemency

Where the earth incessantly spouts

its mystic potion

from hidden carafes

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PEAR TREE LANES

The trees of purity

all dressed in white

Smiling like virginal brides

Once the wind has gone

the ground is covered

with flower-snow

Filling the air

with blissful scents

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REMINDER

Heat radiates around you

mirages shimmer like spectres

The grass lies singed

trees bend over in defeat

The sun proves its point:

It is the master

And we are the serfs

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Karoo Days - Alexander May

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