A woman’s journey to sanity by Diana Ferrus

A woman’s journey to sanity

Diana Ferrus

Past Wellington, past Worcester and Wolseley –

the monstrous peaks loom open-mouthed.

The faces in windows whisper and mock –

“I have his report,” she wants to scream,

but the wind in the fields

through the Soutpansnek

denounces the verdict again and again –

“It’s not what she says, but what she does.”

Bosluiskloof and Brandrivier,

Porterville and Pietersburg –

the rivulets chuckle in secret song –

“The woman in slippers seems quite insane,”

“Look not at my feet but in my eyes’”.

but her diary lines are splashed against

the overgrown hills of Wiegenaarspoort –

“It’s not what she says, but what she does.”

In Swanepoelspoort where the sun means hurt,

the heavy oak trees have stories to tell.

They beg her onwards to Steytlerville,

but her voice sounds hollow in defeated response,

“Please guide my feet to Sewe Weekspoort,

for my heart feels dead and my eyes are cold”

and her traces shout in the Rosebergpass,

“It’s not what she says, but what she does.”

Through Dysselsdorp, De Rust and De Aar,

the yellow fields of the Sederberg,

water from the heavens sucks in the earth

and a woman without slippers and hospital gown

dances victorious to the dying sun –

“What matters the content of a doctor’s report,”

the echoes of her voice reaching the stars,

“For it is what I say and what I do!”

At the feet of the mountains in the Hex Vallei

and in the unspoilt walks of the Houwhoekpas,

(so goes the story of the indigenous ones),

roams the spirit of a woman brave in her heart

and when the earth goes dark with thunder and fear,

her voice lights up in the heavens,

“Hear not the call of the treacherous ones,

who sneak around and swindle your soul.

Listen to the beat of your heart –

hear the music, follow the sound

know, where your journey’s bound.

From: McGregor Poetry Festival 2014 Anthology

First published in 2015 by African Sun Press
in association with The McGregor Poetry Festival Committee
ISBN 978-0-620-64600-0

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.

Peaches en Paula by Diana Ferrus

Peaches en Paula

Diana Ferrus

Peaches en Paula

met babas aan hul sye

en lywe waarin naalde bly –

hoe word gedagtegang

’n elle lange seisoen

waar die son se strale niks meer doen

waar die wind se bittere slae

oneindig teen die venster kla

waar reën, wat aanhoudend teen die dak

wilskrag al verder in die grond laat sak

waar die hartklop vir leef al verder wegsweef?

Hoe vorm ons ’n ander seisoen –

een in die middel van die vier

waarin die geel son

saam met die sneeu, wit feesvier –

hoe skep ons ’n reën, ’n strelende wind

wat outomaties die fout met ’n herstel bind –

hoe stil ons die verlange van die kind?

From: McGregor Poetry Festival 2014 Anthology

First published in 2015 by African Sun Press
in association with The McGregor Poetry Festival Committee
ISBN 978-0-620-64600-0

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.

Die Laingsburg-vloed by Diana Ferrus

Die Laingsburg-vloed

1981

Auntie X se storie

Diana Ferrus

Alreeds ’n ouma, haar seun se ma

hy had ’n vrou, kinders, iets om voor te strewe

in hierdie dorp het hulle gelewe

deur die wet geklassifiseer as ‘bruin’,

dis toe dat die frons op die voorkop verskyn

in haar blou oë was net pyn

“eers het sy in die modder verdwyn,

deur hierdie vloed ondermyn.

toe raak my seun net weg

en ja die doemprofete was reg

my seun se stem was stom,

in die Kaap het hy aan ’n mes omgekom”

Toe word sy weer ’n ma

die jongste was ’n baba, die oudste tien

tot diep in die nag moes sy na hulle omsien,

vir haar was daar geen ander uitweg,

wat sy gedoen het was net reg.

Sy het geen ondersteuning gekry

selfs al het sy meëdoenloos gestry

want in hierdie dorp het sy geleer

wat dit beteken as ander jou as ‘bruin’ klassifiseer.

Dis op haar kierie wat sy nou leuen

met haar blou oë wat wil-wil ween

“as ons net kon geweet het van daardie soorte reën”.


From: McGregor Poetry Festival 2014 Anthology

First published in 2015 by African Sun Press
in association with The McGregor Poetry Festival Committee
ISBN 978-0-620-64600-0

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.

The journey

It was in the train
from Cape Town,
the one to Bellville,
at a quarter past three
It was there I met him
tired and grey.
He looked at me
I did not see his questions
I preferred
to look away.

It was in the train
to Bellville
the one from Cape Town
at a quarter past three
where I saw him looking
through the clear shining window
anxiously clutching
the bag in his hands.

“What’s up with him?”
the schoolboys asked.
“He sure looks nervous,
has he something to hide?”
They all started laughing
and he kept on looking.

It was in the train
to Bellville
the one from Cape Town
at a quarter past three
with the name of the station
in front of our eyes
that he slowly moved forward
and tapped the boy
right next to him.
“What is this station?”
he softly asked.
The answer came
in spurts of laughter,
“He cannot read!”
Continuing their mocking
they got off the train.
Then I understood
the eyes and the questions.

I cannot read
without thinking
of the train to Bellville
the one from Cape Town
at a quarter past three
and the thousands of eyes
looking out of the window
and me never knowing
whether they can see.

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.

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.

I’ve come to take you home

A tribute to Sarah Baartman
Holland, June 1998

I have come to take you home –
home! Remember the veld,
the lush green grass beneath the big oak tree?
The air is cool there and the sun does not burn.
I have made your bed at the foot of the hill,
your blankets are covered in buchu and mint,
the proteas stand in yellow and white
and the water in the stream chuckles sing-songs
as it hobbles along over little stones.

I have come to wrench you away –
away from the poking eyes of the man-made monster
who lives in the dark with his clutches of imperialism,
who dissects your body bit by bit,
who likens your soul to that of Satan
and declares himself the ultimate God!

I have come to soothe your heavy heart,
I offer my bosom to your weary soul.
I will cover your face with the palms of my hands,
run my lips over the lines in your neck,
feast my eyes on the beauty of you
and I will sing for you
for I have come to bring you peace.

I have come to take you home
where the ancient mountains shout your name.
I have made your bed at the foot of the hill.
Your blankets are covered in buchu and mint,
the proteas stand in yellow and white.
I have come to take you home
where I will sing for you,
for you have brought me peace,
for you have brought us peace

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.