KAROO DAYS

Alexander May
 Copyright © 2013, Alexander May

ISBN 978-0-620-58285-8

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“Keep on feeling and writing.”

Etienne
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
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

6
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

7
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

8
KAROOBOSSIE

Grey and commonplace

spikey like a porcupine
Life-giver to the Karoo
and its inhabitants

9
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.

10
HEATWAVE

People shambling down the street

reminding of sloths
The merciless heat
has broken their souls

Stoic phantoms
lethargic and lazy
begging for shade

11
SOMETIMES

Sometimes you wonder

if God has forgotten
that he made the Karoo

12
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

13
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

14
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

15
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 doesn’t look nearly as pretty
as it did in the veld.”

16
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

17
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

18
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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