Patterns of poetry

Once again I want to dance and turn my ear to the patterns of poetry. I want to find the rhythms that enchanted me when I was a child, the handclapping, tongue-teasing rhymes I loved. I want the words to wander and the silence to sing.

I am a child. The words do wander and the silence sings, oh how it sings!
​
So here (hear!) fresh off the press is a poem from my new volume of poetry waar die oog van stil word (of which the eye grows silent). You’ll find an English translation at the end.
 
patrone van stilte
 
waarom mure plekke van stilte is.
waarom stiltes patrone maak op matte.
die skemer duur en duur deur geel glasruite
geriffelde lig in glas gestol.
 
die skemer raak swaar en stil.
die mure onder my hande weef en spin
patrone van matte op die stilte buite
die lig sterf stadig in toiings van wolke.
 
wolke wat plekke van stilte is.
mure en ruite sluit dig teen die donker
lig is die nag se lê hierbinne
hier op die stiltes van ou tapyte.
 
 
patterns of silence
 
why walls are places of silence.
why silence makes patterns on carpets.
the dusk stays and stays through yellow glass windows
rippled light settled in glass.
 
the dusk becomes heavy and silent.
the walls spin and weave under hands
patterns of carpets on the silence outside
the light slowly dies in tatters of clouds.
 
clouds that are places of silence
walls and windows close tight against darkness
light is the lay of the night inside
here on the silence of old carpets.