Poetry and music go hand in hand. Here I drop some of my own work, amateurish at best, and the works from great masters and wordsmiths of renown. Each entry would have a special meaning, or resonance with me. Sometime I wil switch to my native tongue, Afrikaans.
Sal Jy?
As ek seil op die wye oseaan
Sal jy my mis?
Sal jy wonder hoe ek vaar?
Sal jy vir my ‘n meme wil stuur?
Sal jy wonder of ek aan jou dink?
Sal jy een van ons liedjies luister?
Sal jy onthou wat ons gedeel het?
Die boeke wat ons gelees het?
Ek sal.
Johan Kotze, March 2019
Direk en inderek het myne maar altyd ‘n rol gespeel in my lewe, en ek werk al vir die laaste 33 jaar op ‘n myn. Dus die volgende:
Die Myn
Die geoloog kap klippe met ‘n geoeffende oog
Sy boor sak af in die ertsligaam boog
Die beplanner meet en pas
Met Kerning maak hy die plan vas
Die boorman sak gate een na die ander
Totdat die blok lyk soos ‘n groot kolander
Die skietman Laai die dinamiet
En skiet die blok tot niet
Die tougraaf laai
Met stof en lawaai
Die vragwa steun en brul
Met sy vrag soos ‘n bul
Die aanleg was die erts
Uit die snert
Die trein trokke word gelaai
Soos ‘n planter mielies saai
Die erts word verskeep
Winste styg met nog ‘n keep
Die myngrond word herstel
Sodat hasies weer oor gras kan snel
© J. Kotze (woorde en skets)
The two following poems were inspired by Yuval Harari’s book HOMO DEUS. The sub-title is “A Brief Histort of Tomorrow.” Mr. Harari basically states that man is on the cusp of longevity. We are slowly and surely winning a battle against dying. What now remains is finding the Hply Grail of happiness.
The Nature Of Pleasure
All in life is but fleeting
Like a scudding cloud
First a lot, then nothing
Like friends in a crowd
The bad comes
And the bad goes
So the good yields
To the woes
Should the gene mutate
Such that the pleasure of coitus
Become a constant state
Man would couple once
The specie would die
For want of food
Because to his partner tied
He would be for good
This then is proof of evolution
Constant pleasure is
Self destruction
Only fleeting is bliss
(c) Johan Kotze 2019
I have grown up in a predominantly Afrikaans community. The culture, at least up to my generation was, very much shaped by the Bible. This then, is my belated, reaction to group Zeitgeist.
Homo Deus
- In the beginning Man created God
and in the image of Man
created he Him.
So begin die gewraakte stukkie
agter op Jethro Tull
se album Aqualung
Baie wenkbroue is gelig
Preke is gedig
Vermanings is gelug
Dit gaan aan as volg
2. And Man gave unto God a multitude of
names, that he might be Lord of all
the earth when it was suited to Man
Ons bid tot God en Christus
Muhammed en Allah
Krisna en Vishnu
3. And on the seven millionth
day Man rested and did lean
heavily on his God and saw that
it was good.
Met smekinge pleit ons
Elk tot sy god vir verlossing van die bose
En genesing van die ongeneeslike
4. And Man formed Aqualung of
the dust of the ground, and a
host of others likened unto his kind.
Ons teel aan
Nie een regtig anders
Almal maar net sterrestof
5. And these lesser men were cast into the
void; And some were burned, and some were
put apart from their kind.
Party van ons het
onself gesien as beter
as ander
6. And Man became the God that he had
created and with his miracles did
rule over all the earth.
Die mens het magtig geword in sy
Dade sterk amper geen berg te hoog
Die sterre is nou al binne bereik
7. But as all these things
came to pass, the Spirit that did
cause man to create his God
lived on within all men: even
within Aqualung.
Maar ons is almal gelyk
Met dieselfde vermoens
Dieselfde gees om te skep
Die wil om te ontdek
8. And man saw it not.
9. But for Christ’s sake he’d
better start looking.
Blind het ons geword vir
Hierdie waarheid
Maar om vaders naam
Ons moet begin soek
Binne onself en
Mekaar help in
Hierdie soeke
Homo Deus
Het voete van klei
’n Hart van klip
Ons kan hom nie langer aanbid.
© Ian Anderson 1971 vir Engelse verse
© Johan Kotze 2019
