Ingrid Jonker (1933 - 1965)
Nat Nakasa (1937 - 1965)
On the suicide of young writers
Wilma Stockenström
In memory of Ingrid Jonker and Nat Nakasa
For when they die
no flights in formation are necessary
crying starlings accompany them and the macabre gulls
no gun-carriage needs to be drawn past
poems carry them
sketches reveal tiny intimate details
long after the last news report on the dead politician
But when they die too young
– branch torn from the radiant peach-tree –
it is an arm ripped off
blood drips on the breakfast table
the houses cower, the opulent churches cringe
and an acrid smoke blows across the land from endless caves.
(Tr. Johann de Lange)
- Brink, André P. (samesteller) Oggendlied vir Uys Krige, Human & Rousseau Kaapstad en Pretoria Eerste uitgawe 1977