Jou mond
Fluit vir my ‘n spruit
Wat borrel en swerwe
Op die oppervlakte van ons land.
My drome bly droë druppels
Vasgevang in die sand.
Jou mond
Is briljant.
Poetry by Ilva Pieterse
Jou mond
Fluit vir my ‘n spruit
Wat borrel en swerwe
Op die oppervlakte van ons land.
My drome bly droë druppels
Vasgevang in die sand.
Jou mond
Is briljant.
I tried to recall the rhyme our bodies made
As we laid under the setting moon
And you hummed the tune
Of an old cartoon
Your whispers made me weak
Your words set me free
Under a star-filled canopy
Love appeared to me
In the shade of a tree
The poetry in our sighs
Could’ve won a Nobel prize
Your three fingers on my thigh
In the form a C chord –
A Grammy award
Our friction wrote a dictionary
You made me feel less ordinary
You were my best
And I still believe your chest
Was made to fit my cheek
But now we don’t even speak
You left before the week
Was over
The four-leafed clover
That I found in my hair
Never warned me it was to be a rebound affair
I was cheated out of luck
In the end it was just
To help you pretend
That the woman you went home to
Hadn’t forgotten how to love you
But in trying to erase
The pain you still had to face
You hurt me instead
Well, you’re still in my head
You’re on my lips, my tongue, my hips
I’ve washed, I’ve scrubbed, I’ve shaved
But I still crave your hands, your smile
You made my life worthwhile
The memory of your breath
Has made me blind
Now all I have is death on my mind
Unabridged
On a bridge
I stare at the cars below
I dare myself to swallow
My pointless expectation
I feel a sense of elation
As my feet leave the foundation
I lift my empty hands to the sky
I’m done asking why
I just wish I could’ve known
A little more about you
It might have helped me live
A life without you
I wanted to love you
But I didn’t know how
Or when or where
To start.
I couldn’t find a space
Between the abrasions on your heart
On which to lay my head.
I tread softly between
The tearing tissue
As you bled.
But I couldn’t find a place
To build my happiness
From your unhappiness.
I tried to find a lily pad
On the surface of that red river
On which to float.
I swam in vain
In search of a smile
On the bottom of that plasma pool.
So I honoured the voice inside my head
I let you go, kissed you and said,
“I wish I’d never met you.”
I caressed you one last time
To separate your pain from mine.
I don’t even think you noticed
Me skipping down the street
And how I left that heap of despair
On the floor
Between your feet.