Monday, 3 September 2012

Spookstories (ghost stories)

I grew up at a time when there was no such thing as television, there were no computers, no cell phones (very few people had even a landline telephone) and no shopping malls. This meant we had to make our own entertainment and my all time favourite was for a group of boys to sit around an open fire out in the veldt, listening to one or more of the older boys tell terrifying but wildly improbable ghost stories. This poem is written in Afrikaans, find out more about this language here.


Spookstories

ʼn Geniepsige wind en ʼn maanlose nag
en ʼn brak wat eentonig vir ʼn skaduwee blaf
ʼn Knetterende vuur en ʼn Eveready flits
en ʼn bibberende groep liggelowige niksnuts
ʼn Bouvallige kerkhof waaruit spoke snags rys
en geraamtes wat klater gee kits hoendervleis
ʼn Flitslig word stil onder ʼn kennebak gedruk
en die gedaante wat verskyn laat elke man skrik
ʼn Gruwelike spookstorie om ʼn kampvuur vertel
en byklanke wat eggo teen die pikswart nagvel
ʼn Geselliger byeenkoms sou jy nêrens kon vind
En sonder twyfel die lekkerste prêt vir dié kind

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