7 December-poem
This poem comes from a “poetic calendar”. There’s a poem for every day and it’s actually a book used by Teachers and I want to share a poem for today from this book! Fridays always feel to me like a special day for poetry! A day to relax! So…relax and enjoy! As student, Ingrid Jonker’s poems really appealed to me…and “Bitterbessie Dagbreek” was always somewhere on a door/wall in my room. At the bottom of this post, you will find a link to read more about her….her poems were translated in many languages!
Follow this link HERE to listen to her poem in Afrikaans, and at the same time, you can read it in English! Please Click on the play button!
Love-light
A taper lit in sunlight,
Pale yellow leaf of flame,
An upturned heart that trembled
As soft winds breathed your name,
Its brightness was diluted;
But, when the darkness came,
It shone with such pure brilliance
As put the stars to shame.
Vernon Scannell
From:Read Me2: A Poem For Every Day of The Year
BITTERBESSIE DAGBREEK
Ingrid Jonker
Bitterbessie dagbreek
bitterbessie son
‘n spieël het gebreek
tusen my en hom
Soek ek na die grootpad
om daarlangs te draf
oral draai die paadjies
van sy woorde af
Dennebos herinnering
dennebos vergeet
het ek ook verdwaal
trap ek in my leed
Papegaai-bont eggo
kierang kierang my
totdat ek bedroë
weer die koggel kry
Eggo is geen antwoord
antwoord hy alom
bitterbessie dagbreek
bitterbessie son
On THIS LINK you will find interesting reading about her life! Read HERE more about INGRID JONKER.
SONG
Another Afrikaans poem of Ingrid…
Madeliefies in Namakwaland
~~~Ingrid Jonker
Waarom luister ons nog
na die antwoorde van die madeliefies
op die wind op die son
wat het geword van die kokkewietjies
Agter die geslote voorkop
waar miskien nog ’n takkie tuimel
van ’n verdrinkte lente
~~~
Agter my gesneuwelde woord
Agter ons verdeelde huis
Agter die hart gesluit teen homself
Agter draadheinings, kampe, lokasies
Agter die stilte waar onbekende tale
val soos klokke by ’n begrafenis
Agter ons verskleurde land
~~~
sit die groen hotnotsgot van die veld
en ons hoor nog verdwaasd
klein blou Namakwaland-madeliefie
iets antwoord, iets glo, iets weet.
I had to blog this Afrikaans song of Laurika Rauch as I think the mood suits today’s poems!
Chessalee 
Ek het in die week weer Chris Chameleon se “Ek Herhaal Jou” CD in die kar deurgeluister met o.a. Bitterbessie. Darem maar mooi.
Ek het hom nog nie dit gehoor sing nie! 😦
Mooi woorde, mooi musiek – thanks!
Kop, ek stem saam oor Chameleon se CD. Dis pragtig!
Plesier Boer, bly jy het dit geniet…want ek het ook! 🙂 I hope other people enjoy it too!
[…] my reise die stem van jou oë is dieper as alle rose nee nie eens die reën nie het sulke hande On THIS LINK you can read more about Ingrid…a link to Wikipedia…there’s a Youtube-song to […]
[…] my kamermuur as student opgeplak was! –saam met natuurlik ‘n dosyn ander…. On THIS LINK you can read more about Ingrid Jonker and listen to a […]
[…] Nikita On this link you can read another poem of her…and read more about Ingrid […]
[…] https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/love-light-bitterbessie/ […]
Dis pragtig
Hi Liandi! en welkom hier! Ek’s bly nog iemand dink Ingrid se werke is pragtig en bly jy’t dit geniet. Kan mens ooit genoeg van haar kry!?
[…] link is from my blog where I’ve previously posted in English about Ingrid Jonker with external links you can […]
[…] on about Ingrid Jonker where you can also listen to Bitterbessie Dagbreek as sung by Chris […]