I am an African

Image: DK-images..Langebaan, Cape Town, South Africa

If you are looking for Afrikaans Poems...click HERE to read poems by our own South African poets!Enjoy. The link will open in a new window.

 
Ek is van Afrika
Ek is van Afrika
Nie omdat ek daar gebore is
Maar omdat my hart met Afrika klop
Ek is van Afrika
Nie omdat my gelaat donker is
Maar omdat Afrika my gedagtes omgrens
Ek is van Afrika
Nie omdat ek van haar leef
Maar omdat my siel tuis is - in Afrika
Please click HERE to read the rest of the Afrikaans version of the poem..."I am an African" on my WP blog. Wayne Visser has asked me to translate his poem and you will find his English poem on this link too and a link to his site where you can enjoy more wonderful poetry written by him. If you go to his site, make sure you read the poem..."Prayer for Africa" too. Also, read Wayne's message which I've posted here too...

Wayne has sent me this message via email, please react if you're interested by sending him an email with one of your poems in either English or Afrikaans...about Africa...

"Hello again I thought I'd let you (and your lekker vriende) know that I've launched a "Poets of Africa" blog - http://poetsofafrica.blogspot.com/
Afrikaanse digters welkom! Just email me on wayne@waynevisser.com and I will give permission for you to post. Kwa heri Wayne”

Love/Liefde

Please click HERE to read poems about Love.

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Seven II

As you know, I was tagged by Meghna .......to do a meme! Read what a meme is....(pronounced like in "dream")...on a post of 2 days ago......OK, it was REALLY very difficult to decide WHERE to start first, as my time is now very little after starting an IT course today! So, I had to think very fast what I will post, as there are so MANY things I could write about!!, but to limit it to only SEVEN! That was very difficult....I made a list, crossed out, started with another, crossed out again...and then just started with what jumped to my mind!!I will have to do another one and another and another and another and.....wow....
First of all, I do LOVE teaching, as I see teaching as a CALLING and not "just a job"...(like I heard some teachers saying that here in London..) for me it is NOT "just a job!!!!"........My great grandad left Holland to teach in South Africa and I think the "teaching -blood" is running through my veins! Click here to see pictures of the current school. The old school, which was in his very own house, is about 2 km from the current school.
I used to teach Primary and don't think I ever want to teach Secondary......but if I have to.....It will have to be a subject like ICT only, as I do like IT and to incorporate ICT in any aspect of my teaching.
I love reading, I LOVE books...not just "like" it....I have about a library packed away in South Africa and have slowly started to build one again. Children's books....adult books...If I'm teaching, you will always find me in a bookshop, leaving with many books! A book as a present to me...and you will make my day! I also like writing stories. During secondary school, I used to get good marks for creative writing...what we also call "composition"....and I was always eager to get homework in composition....I just loved to let my mind flow....


Poetry!!! On this picture you can see a famous and well-known South African poet...Totius...(pen name) .....J D du Toit....he wrote some fantastic poems, some of them very moving, like the one about the death of his own child, killed by lightning....really an emotional poem! His daughter stood by an open window, when lightning struck and he was there to witness everything...as his poem tells us...read my translated version of his poem at the bottom of the post...

South Africa!!! ........I love my country to bits! I have a passion for South Africa. South Africa will always be THE place to be!! No other country is as beautiful as South Africa. On this picture you can see Simonstown...Cape Town...


And.......of course........if you don't know it by now...you will NEVER know! CHESS!!! I never played it at school. During Primary at the age of about 10, my brother taught me...I got my first chess book at the age of 12 from my one sister.....with Fischer/Spasski games in the back....I do like Bobby Fischer's games.....I played them through as a child as I had no one to play with!! No one in my family wanted to play chess!!...then at Secondary...it was always just BOYS when we were called to play chess...and I felt intimidated by them...no other girls! And the boys...always giving you the "look"...as if they wanna say..."hey...a girl playing chess!! how is that possible!"...I really started to get into chess when at my second school, the Headteacher asked me to start chess.......and I was over the moon! My kids really did well....I left at that school with two teams, each team.... 10 players and two reserves and a lot of Junior children...in South Africa they are Gr1-Gr3 (7-9 year old) kids in line to join the teams later... (If you click on this pic, you will see a good checkmate position, this player's rating is a bit low, he only started playing quite recently, but has picked-up very quickly and sometimes, I really have to be very careful with my moves! We play friendlies and while playing, I try to help him with the closing of his games, as this is where his problem lies at the moment.)

I like the colour red ....although purple-pinkish is also one of my favourites...This top is a beautiful top!
...CATS!! I'm a catlover! Cats are peaceloving animals! They have personalities of their own and they have their own language to speak to you!! Listen to your cat!! and try to understand his language!!

The poem that follows now, is the one Totius wrote about his child. When I have time, I will try to translate it....


O die pyn-gedagte
Totius....(JD du Toit)
O Die pyn-gedagte: My kind is dood! . . .
dit brand soos 'n pyl in my.
Die mense sien daar niks nie van,
en die Here alleen die weet wat ek ly.

Die dae kom en die nagte gaan
die skadu's word lank en weer kort;
die drywerstem van my werk weerklink,
en ek gaan op my kruisweg voort.

Maar daar skiet aldeur 'n pyn in my hart,
so, dat my lewe se glans verdwyn;
Jou kind is dood met 'n vreeslike dood!
En – ek gryp my bors van die pyn.

O Die bliksemgedagte! . . . Ja, lieflingskind,
een straal het jou skone liggaam verskroei,
maar bliksemstrale sonder tal
laat my binneste brand en bloei.
Sy was so teer soos 'n vlindertjie,
sy't lugtig omheen geswerf;
'n asempie wind kon haar vlerkies breek
en – kyk watter dood moes sy sterf!
Hoe weinig die kinders wat so moet sterf,
dis een uit die tienduisend-tal,
en ag, dat dit sy was, en ek moes sien
dat sy dood in my arms val!
O Die pyn-gedagte: My kind is dood! . . .
dit brand soos 'n pyl in my;
die mense die sien daar niks nie van,
en die Here alleen die weet wat ek ly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...as I promised...a translation of the poem!
Read my English translation of the poem HERE ....
Oh the painful thought

Bitterbessie Dagbreek

Ek is verslaaf aan gedigte en veral hierdie een wat altyd teen my kamermuur as student opgeplak was! --saam met natuurlik 'n dosyn ander....

BITTERBESSIE DAGBREEK ~~ Ingrid Jonker

Bitterbessie dagbreek
bitterbessie son
'n spieël het gebreek
tusen my en hom

Read HERE the rest of the poem and ON THIS LINK you can read more about her...and the same poem...all on my Wordpress blog. You can also read "Muskiete Jag" and listen to her song....on the first link.

Oktobermaand...Leipoldt

Leipoldt, C. Louis, 1880-1947
Leipoldt is a South African poet, one of the BEST poets...he describes in this poem the month October. He says October is the most beautiful month...for South Africa, that's the truth of course if you look at my previous entry's photos!

C. LOUIS LEIPOLDT

Dit is die maand Oktober!

Die mooiste, mooiste maand!
Dan is die dag so helder, so groen is elke aand,
so blou en sonder wolke die hemel heerlik bo,
so blomtuin vol van kleure die asvaal ou Karoo,
so blomtuin vol van kleure die asvaal ou Karoo.

Dit is die maand Oktober!
Die varkblom is in bloei;
oor al die seekoeigate is kafferskuil gegroei;
die koppies, kort gelede nog as 'n klip so kaal,
het nou vir welkomsgroetnis hul mooiste voor gehaal;
het nou vir welkomsgroetnis hul mooiste voor gehaal.

Dit is die maand Oktober!
Die akkerboom is groen;
die bloekoms langs die paaie is almal nuut geboen;
en orals in die tuin rond ruik jy sering en roos,
jasmyn en katjiepiering, lemoen en appelkoos,
jasmyn en katjiepiering, lemoen en appelkoos.

Dit is die maand Oktober!
Ek dink die mense vier vir ewig
in die hemel Oktobermaand soos hier!
Wat wens jy meer as blomme, as helder dag en nag?
Wat kan jy beter, mooier of heerliker verwag?
Wat kan jy beter, mooier of heerliker verwag?
Wat gee ek om die winter?
Wat praat jy nou van Mei?
Wat skeel dit as ons later weer donker dae kry?

Ek is nou in Oktober, die mooiste, mooiste maand,
met elke dag so helder, so pragtig elke aand!
Met elke dag so helder, so pragtig elke aand!

I know a place

You can click HERE to read another poem of Wayne in English which he's asked me to translate into Afrikaans. Both poems can be found on this link which will open in a new window.
I've received an email from Wayne with the following message...if you're interested, drop him an email!

“Hello again I thought I'd let you (and your lekker vriende) know that I've launched a
"Poets of Africa" blog - http://poetsofafrica.blogspot.com/.
Afrikaanse digters welkom! Just email me on wayne@waynevisser.com and I will give permission for you to post. Kwa heri Wayne”
http://www.waynevisser.com/


I know a place in Africa…
Inspiring poetry written by Wayne Visser,
a South African currently based in Nottingham, UK.

I know a place in Africa
Where I can feel the sun on my back
And the sand between my barefoot toes
Where I can hear the gulls on the breeze
And the waves crash on the endless shore

I know a place in Africa
Where the mountains touch the skies of blue
And the valleys shelter vines of green
Where the trees spread out a cloth of mauve
And the bushveld wears a coat of beige

I know a place in Africa
Where I can hear the voice of thunder gods
And watch their lightening spears thrown to earth
Where I can breathe the scent of rain clouds
And taste the sweet dew of dusty drops

This is the place of wildness
Of evolution and dinosaurs
Where life began and mankind first stood
Of living fossils and elephants
Where lions roar and springbok herds leap

This is the place of struggle
Of desert plains and thorn trees
Where pathways end and hunters track game
Of horizons and frontiers
Where journeys start and sunsets bleed red

This is the place of freedom
Of exploration and pioneers
Where darkness loomed and light saw us through
Of living legends and miracles
Where daybreak came and hope now shines bright

My heart is at home in Africa
Where the sound of drums beat in my chest
And the songs of time ring in my ears
Where the rainbow mist glows in my eyes
And the smiles of friends make me welcome

My mind is at ease in Africa
Where the people still live close to the soil
And the seasons mark my changing moods
Where the markets hustle with trading
And Creation keeps its own slow time

My soul is at peace in Africa
For her streams bring lifeblood to my veins
And her winds bring healing to my dreams
For when the tale of this land is told
Her destiny and mine are as one

© 2006 Wayne Visser


Something else that's great about South Africa!
South Africa is the only country in the world to have acquired, and subsequently fully dismantled, its nuclear-weapons capability.

In the Highveld

On my Wordpress-blog HERE you can read my English translation for the Afrikaans poem..."In die Hoeveld"..."In the Highveld"...in Afrikaans written by NP Van Wyk-Louw. The link will open in a new window.