anderkant die hek gee hy die vlaktes sy gewig
buite sig sink hy syg hy neer tussen grys spaarsamige bossies
ook skilpadoë kyk peinsend ook ankerbos geur
met innerlike waardigheid
tyd stroom uit in leegtes van oker en as
die klippies onder sy bladbeen durf hom nie hinder nie
sy kop mag nie skuif in die grint nie
hy durf die soetdoring se reuk nie identifiseer nie
ook nie die opskrik van korhaan of kiewiet nie
hy verskraal sy asem
tot ’n effense verkoeling om die neusgate
die son eien sy vel
hy lê sy tong af
stadig dreineer sy vlees
dor sy ribbes
bleik sy kop leeg
droog die leegte in
hy wil tot been kom
tot klip
windverkild
tussen bos en skalie
alles in hom val diep en duursaam stil.
om aan die ekstreme te vergaan
om te ontbind is die opregste manier van wees
leegheid gloor tot aan die horison
om hier te wil ten gronde gaan, is om vir altyd te bly flans:
só, teen ’n hart van flint
in the veld near Leeu-Gamka on the other side of the gate / he gives the eternal plains his weight / out of sight he sinks down / dwindles among frugal grey bossies // also tortoise eyes watch pensively / also anchorbush yields inner dignity / time streams out in emptinesses of ochre and ash // the pebbles under his shoulder blade dare not bother him / his head may not shift in the grit / he dare not identify the smell of thorntrees / or the startled sound of bustard or plover // he thins his breath / to a slight cooling at the nostrils // the sun acknowledges his skin / he lays down his tongue /slowly his flesh drains / his ribs wither / he exsiccates his skull into emptiness // he wants to come to bone here / to stone—windcrisped among bush and shale // everything in him falls deeply and durably still. / to be expunged by the extremes / to decompose is the most honourable way of being / emptiness glints towards the horizon // to want to go to ground here is to roughhew for ever: / like this, against a heart of flint