With a tracing of my dreams
I’ll draw for you
In the shapes of streams
And the sounds of seas
A lucid doodle
The colour of waterdrops
To show you where my world stops
And my bones begin
I’ll take you to the place
Where my poems sing
I pull the land on which you live
Closer to where I stand
In one smooth motion
I narrow the ocean
Uniting our shores
Until yours is mine
And mine is yours
No more miles
Between our smiles
Just a sliver of the sea
Like a scar in the sands
Keeps you and me
From holding hands.
I first saw you in a cloud shaped like a man
And in the wingspan of an eagle
You spun your sky around me
Till I flowered and froze
And so wintersweet and willingly
Became the shape you chose.
I wanted you to grow me
Like a tiger lily
I wanted your hand to fit
In the small of my back
But instead my bones turned black
And I blossomed and burned
When my back was turned.
In your shadow, I was never alone
In your echo, I became a semi-tone
I should’ve flown
Before your eyes caught me
And turned me into stone
I should’ve known
Your aim was to distort me
And leave me on my own
Bittersweet, frostbitten
In your long-forgotten city
The history of our love
Like a mystery, like a dove
Is written in graffiti
Where our harboured street
And the moon’s reflection meet
And I’ll always wonder how
You managed to make me feel so tall
And at the same time
So incredibly small.
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.