Sunday 10 June 2012

Poem by the Afrikaans poet
Elisabeth Eybers


The prayer of  stiffening souls

Make us immortal for one single hour,
grant us the folly of one mindless deed!
The eye that for no lasting goal would scour
but, feverish and wide, would only heed
what’s caught in a pale face – the instant’s flare –
not mourning for the ashes when it’s spent,
a scream that hangs there in the listless air
like blood-red rose held in a haze of scent!

Our hearts have never been so still, so bare...
The darkness like a wall begins to tower,
dividing us from life-and-death, and there
we talk of it while late-night hours recede...
Make us immortal for one single hour,
grant us the folly of one mindless deed!

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