Poem
Cecil Helman
Graves on an African Farm
Graves on an African Farm
Graves on an African Farm
Just beside the barbed wire fence. At the end of that long dusty, reddish path. Like a vein of terracotta. Past the acre of prickly pears, netted against monkey thieves. Past rows of orange and pear trees, plum and peach. Past the little herb garden, the two small ponds with their thirty white, waddling geese. Up past the broken-down tractor, the water pump, the half-empty reservoir. Six abandoned graves. Of African farm workers, someone says. Among the high waving grass, six broad lines of stones. No gravestones, just a rock, unmarked, placed at one end. Nearby, in the warm Magaliesberg winds, a long line of bluegum trees sway and sigh. Like mourners.
© 2006, Cecil Helman
From: Irregular Numbers of Beasts and Birds
Publisher: Quale Press, Florence MA
From: Irregular Numbers of Beasts and Birds
Publisher: Quale Press, Florence MA
Cecil Helman
(South Africa, 1944)
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Cecil Helman qualified as a medical doctor before moving to London to study social anthropology. Over the years, he has managed to combine his writing career with 27 years as a family doctor for the National Health Service and academic posts in London and abroad. He is a recognised expert on medical anthropology, specialising in the cross-cultural issues involve...
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Graves on an African Farm
Just beside the barbed wire fence. At the end of that long dusty, reddish path. Like a vein of terracotta. Past the acre of prickly pears, netted against monkey thieves. Past rows of orange and pear trees, plum and peach. Past the little herb garden, the two small ponds with their thirty white, waddling geese. Up past the broken-down tractor, the water pump, the half-empty reservoir. Six abandoned graves. Of African farm workers, someone says. Among the high waving grass, six broad lines of stones. No gravestones, just a rock, unmarked, placed at one end. Nearby, in the warm Magaliesberg winds, a long line of bluegum trees sway and sigh. Like mourners.
From: Irregular Numbers of Beasts and Birds
Graves on an African Farm
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