Obsession

Who do you love
so desperately
that your eyes keep wandering
over the head of the moon
and then speak
to the void in the night?

Who do you love
so needingly
that your voice disappears
into the woods that wait
for your words to make sense
of the dream that you dream
but so fiercely deny?

Who do you love –
is it the wind of the night
that dies at dawn
and with the break of the day
lies scattered about?

Who batters your soul
and possesses your mind?

Is it the heat of the sun
or the frost of the morn
that prepares the grave
for your body torn?

Who do you love
so desperately?

Sing: Who do you love so desperately?
         Who batters your soul and possesses your mind?
         Who batters your soul and possesses your mind?
         Who batters your soul and possesses your mind?

From: McGregor Poetry Anthology 2013

Published by African Sun Press in association with the McGregor Poetry Festival

ISBN number 978-0-620-62302-5


The Poet:

Diana Ferrus is a writer, poet, performance poet, story-teller, editor and publisher, best known for her epic poem about the Khoisan woman, Sarah Baartman, whose remains were on display in Paris until 1986. She is a founder member of the Afrikaanse Skrywersvereniging, Bush Poets and Women in Xchains. Her works, in both Afrikaans and English, have been published in various anthologies and a collection, Ons Komvandaan.

Previously published:

Diana Ferrus: I’ve come to take you home; Obsession; and The journey from her collection I’ve come to take you home.