UPON SEEING YOU IN THE DARK
©
Farouk Asvat
Hearts open
Like purple four o' clocks at dusk:
Wind upon the sail
Atlas for the floundering ship
Illusions, mirrors of youth,
Lie shattered on the floor:
But your voice picks up the wind
Sings through bamboo reeds
Through horn of the antelope
Like me
You gathered the sorrows of our people:
Tenderness has forged a sigh into my laughter
There are gifts in your gentleness
And still you come
Eternally like the wave
Dancing rainbow of butterflies halo your black crown.
I see you in the dark light of the room
Sensitive theatre of the lips
Happy like the khaki grass
Dancing in the highveld wind
Dressed in a splash of pink petals.
Oh the warmth of the abdomen
The ice of the Karoo night:
In my naked land
You are the protea:
Beauty, and terror in losing you
Child full of laughter
Natural as the water and the stars
Come with me
Lead me
So that I will regret
Forgetting your caress,
Or just a kiss.
I grow tired,
Venturing to no purpose.
Here in the wilderness of this war
You are the heir
To the songs of my heart
Oh sad and beautiful one
Natural as the wind
© farouk asvat
composed: 1985 [Johannesburg, South Africa
under apartheid]
[] Acknowledgements:
Upon Seeing You In The Dark was previously published in:
A Celebration Of Flames (donker, p43,
1987);
Exiles Within (Writers' Forum, Cape Town, p2, 1985);
Dokumente
Texte und Tendenzen VIII (Evangelische Akademie, Germany, p103, 1987);
A
Celebration of Flames (Heller Fund, UC Berkeley, California, p36, 1988);
Nu Ik Jou In Het Donker Zie (Dutch translation by
Irene Scheltes, 1988);
A
Celebration of Flames (piquant publications, p64, 2007);
www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com
(01.05.2012);
A Celebration Of Flames (kindle, 2014);
A Celebration Of Flames (amazon paperback, p63, 2014).
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
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© farouk asvat. All rights reserved.
Farouk
Asvat asserts his moral right to be
identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may
be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means
whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing,
photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the
internet. This publication shall also
not be stored in a retrieval system. And
the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or
binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission
to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the
author.
Reproduction
of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is
liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.
farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com
[] please check out my blogs @:
weapons of words: www.faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com
piquante: www.faroukasvat-piquant.blogspot.com
books by farouk asvat: www.faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com
[] also link up on:
google+: www.google.com/+faroukasvat
linkedin: www.linkedin.com/farouk-asvat
facebook: www.facebook.com/faroukasvat
youtube: www.youtube.com/c/faroukasvat
twitter: www.twitter.com/faroukasvat
_______________________________________________________
NU IK JOU IN
HET DONKER ZIE
Dutch translation by © Irene Scheltes
Harten gaan open
Als purperen
bootjes in de schemering:
Wind in de zeilen
Atlas voor het
zwoegende schip
Illusies,
spiegels der jeugd,
Liggen kapot op
de grond:
Maar je stem
wakkert de wind aan
Zingt door
bamboeriet
Door de
hoorn van de antilope
Net als ik
Vergaarde jij het
leed van ons volk:
Tederheid schiep
een zucht in mijn lach
Jouw zachtheid is
een geschenk
En nog altijd kom
je
Eeuwig als de
golven
Een dansende
regenboog van vlinders verlicht je zwarte kroon
Ik zie je in het
duistere licht van de kamer
Gevoelig
theater van de lippen
Gelukkig
als het kaki gras
Dansend in de
wind op het veld
In roze
bloemenzee getooid.
O de warmte diep
in de buik
Di ijskoude nacht
in het Hoogland:
In mijn naakte
land
Ben jij het
protea:
Schhonheid, en
angst om je te verliezen
Kind vol
vrolijkheid
Natuurlijk
als het water en de sterren
Kom met
mij mee
Leid me
Zodat het
me zal berouwen
Als ik je
streling vergeet,
Of enkel een kus.
Ik word
moe,
Van het
doelloos risico’s nemen.
Hier in de
wildernis van deze oorlog
Ben jij de
erfgenaam
Van de liederen
in mijn hart
O jij,
zo droef en mooi
Natuurlijk
als de wind
Dutch translation by kind permission of
© Irene Scheltes
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: paperback @ $15 &
kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry
#southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#faroukasvat #weapons of words #comparative
literature #literary criticism
#a celebration of flames #upon seeing you in
the dark
