"ouma" poems
Rooi rosige wange
En n eerlike mond
n Hart van goud
My Ouma
Ek sal nooit ooit my Ouma met Rooi wange En die mooiste glimlag vergeet nie
En jou lag
Jou stewige lag
Jou Hart Wat so vol liefde was
My Ouma
Ek sal nooit vergeet dat dit was jy Wat vir my afrikaans geleer het
Ek het dit altyd met jou gepraat
My Ouma
Jou geselskap was altyd eerlik En jy het altyd my hart verstaan
My Ouma
Wat so lief vir Facebook was
My Ouma
Van muis stories
En my Ouma
saam met Wie Ek gebak het
My Ouma Van rose
My Ouma Van liefde
My Ouma Van lang goodbyes
En altyd ons ding
Waar ons het gese
Ons is so lief vir mekaar
My Ouma
Ek sal altyd dankbaar wees
Vir ons tyd saam
My lieflike Ouma
Ek sal jou met Rooi wange
En blou grimering onthou
My regte egte Ouma
Ek sal jou lag altyd ****
En jou laaste glimlag sien
En lippe Wat gese:
"Ek is so lief vir jou, my skat. Altyd."
Ouma Ek sal jou nooit ooit vergeet nie
Ouma
Ouma
My mooiste ouma
Van rose
En Rooi wange.
Totsiens my Ouma
Jul 4, 2016
Jul 4, 2016 at 4:14 AM UTC
*The Sound of delight as the truck tyre rolls on the silent gravel
The clamorous sound of a Child torrents, and marks the race to calls heard by the 'siren devil'
Dusty feet running with cries of others who can't afford that red ice drenched in syrup
Ouma stunning, as a child dampens her tunic with red eyes pressed to see them
Hand reaches in my pocket coined with the Old
Man, I'm missing those times with no dockets for stealing a coin from the Old.*
Apr 11, 2014
Apr 11, 2014 at 2:08 AM UTC
Sitting here
Where your body lies
Your heart deafened
Your life gone by
As the birds chirp
And life chatters away
I hear you
Loud and clear on this day
Your life beckons
Full
And dear
I miss you Ouma
My partner in crime
My maat
My beste vriend
Ek mis ons gesprekke
In Afrikaans
Ek mis jou lag
Jou Rooi rosige wange
Jy
En Ek sit hier
Sonder jou
I haven't felt myself since you've been gone
I've been empty
Waiting
For someone to help this yearning
This longing in my heart
I sit beside your grave
Tears clenched in my eyes
Holding back my own life
I miss you Ouma
I miss you so
And forever I will be empty
Without you
As I am
Yearning
For you so.
Jan 2, 2017
Jan 2, 2017 at 5:29 AM UTC
Ek skrik die 10de Augustus wakker.
Iets voel verkeerd, so swaar, so leeg.
Met 'n knop in my keel raak my gemoed swakker.
Min het ek geweet, dat treur so swaar kon weeg.
Vaagweg **** ek, "I look to you"
"And when melodies are gone"
"I hear you in a song"
Ouma was ons eie Whitney Houston
Haar sterk gees was ons rots.
Al het ons met tye lekker koppe gebots.
Sy was my vestiging, ons familie se trots.
Mag die rose in Bloemfontein altyd ouma se naam onthou.
Die pragtige rooikop dogtertjie in liefde toegevou.
Ouma se omgee het my soveel keer gered.
Die dankbaarheid gekoester in my mooiste gebed.
Mag die voëltjies altyd bly sing
Terwyl ouma se stories mooi herinneringe bring
Ouma was altyd bereid om te help
Vol genade het ouma, harde harte versmelt
Mag oupa altyd verlief bly
Sodat ons verdwaaldes, ook die regte prentjie kan kry
'n 53 - jaar, onvoorwaarlike liefde verhaal
So opreg, en eerlik, die mooiste mylpaal
Dankie dat ouma my aanvaar het vir wie ek is
Al sit ek heel wat die potte mis
Dankie vir alles wat ek by ouma kon leer
Dankie vir elke drukkie, vergifnis, keer op keer.
Dankie vir elke koppie soet tee
Vir al die miljoene trane wat ouma moes afvee
Dankie dat julle vir my alles kon gee
Dat hulle harte net liefde kon skree
Dankie dat ouma my veilig kon hou
Ons verlang alreeds, en sal verewig onthou.
Ons bly, onvoorwaarlik lief vir jou.
Ek gaan ouma mis, al my liefde, Thomas.
Aug 16, 2018
Aug 16, 2018 at 2:52 AM UTC
I just want to cry
But I am numb
I saw a child die before my eyes
I see her wither in her last breaths
Ouma
This is not the way you should die
With that machine attached to your throat
Arms tied down
Being suctioned
And being forced to take your last breath
No Ouma
You are a proud woman
A woman who always tries to look her best
A scent of Mint and roses
And sweet cakes
My Ouma
Clothes that smell like washing powder
But that unique kind that you always remember
Ouma
I love you
I never knew how much I did
Until now
I never imagined life without you
And I do not wish to
My Ouma
Please don't go
He loves you so much
He never left your side
You are his 'girl' he says
As you lie there in the hospital bed
He can not live without you Ouma
You have no idea how much you mean to us
My Ouma
Ek is so baie lief vir jou
My Ouma
Asseblief
Moenie gaan nie
My Ouma
Van Mint And Rose scent.
Jul 2, 2016
Jul 2, 2016 at 4:10 PM UTC
This is where I live!
our youngest tour guide
proudly gestures
to a 6 by 6 tin hut
viciously reflecting the African heat
Inside, a sun-beaten woman rests
against four ceramic jugs brimming
with water that’s almost fresh
carried from the well we passed
a mile and a half back.
We embark on a two-step tour
across the tiny space
where a dozen relatives sleep,
pausing at the single mattress
reserved for ouma,
eldest in the village at 52.
Her call for questions
reverberates in silence
against the camera hanging
from my neck, and the Cliff bar
peeking out of my pocket.
Our guide kisses his mom
before closing the door,
a relieved sigh slips
through my teeth,
we march on.
Feb 13, 2016
Feb 13, 2016 at 4:10 PM UTC
A moment when you watch someone die
Is a moment filled with desperation and heartache
You are numb
You are suffering
Because you waited for her to die
You watched as all the numbers decreased
You watched as her heart beat stopped and her breathing ended
You watched as it all turned 0
You watched her die
You watched the colour disappear from her face
Her rosy cheeks into a pale pale yellow
She is gone
But oh how she died
How she died
With such love surrounding her
As we waited for you to go to Heaven
To meet Jesus
There were threads of love surrounding your body
As you breathed
With that **** machine
A hand on each leg
A hand holding each of your hands
Enveloped with warmth and love
As your husband sincerely stroked your head
You were in a room encompassed with love
We adored you my dear
My beautiful ouma
We loved you so much
And now I say
No more Sunday visits
That God, why did I ever dread?
God, I want her back
I know I am selfish
But I loved her Care and absolute adoration for me
Everyone keeps telling me how much she loved me
I remember her lips mouthing
'Ek is lief vir jou skat'
And that will be my memory of her
Rosy cheeks
Blue eyeshadow
And honesty that you thought you despised but actually adored
The most honest person I know
How I will miss you, my love
I want you to know that you are so loved
And I pray that those tears I saw in your eyes
As you died
Were tears of courage and strength and bravery
As you faced death
As he came in like a thief in the night
And took you away
Before you died
We each said we loved you
We were desperate
We screamed out prayers for God to take you away peacefully
You cried
You weeped, my love
As you said
Your last goodbye.
Jul 4, 2016
Jul 4, 2016 at 2:04 PM UTC
These past three weeks Have been quite unnerving
I've found love and I've lost one of the most important people in my life...
Losing her was terribly sad...
I've tried to push away those feelings of sadness and heartache
By focusing on love and the endearing look he has in his eyes
I have not allowed myself to succumb to dwelling in my sadness
And the urgency in my heart to cry our her name to the heavens
Where are you?
Are you looking down on me?
I miss our Sunday visits, Ouma
I miss your sweet rosy scent
I am conflicted by the emotions I feel
I am resisting the screaming and sobbing in my heart
I am deafening her
With a pillow to her mouth
I am allowing her to fall asleep
And when the sobbing, screaming child in my heart awakes...
I love her
I remind her that 'Jesus wept'
And it will be alright
And she should allow the Love of Jesus to flood her heart
1 Corinthians 13 Love should swell up inside of her heart
And she should love
Allow that love to surmount all that melancholy inside of herself
She will love
She will love
Momentarily I am lost
And I was found by
The Lover of my Soul
Jesus Christ, dwell in me
Love me
Bless me
Be with me
And help me to spread Your Word
And lift Your Name on High
Jesus... Dwell in Me
And Love...
Jul 14, 2016
Jul 14, 2016 at 3:55 AM UTC
My klein Ouma
smeer haar liefde
soos botter
Sy smeer van kant tot kant
en gee liefde orals,
wat langsaam versmelt in die deug
van haar sagte brood
My klein Ouma se liefde
vul al die gate in die warm brood
“Niks is beter as brood nie”
Is wat Ouma altyd se
En tog, is sy verbasend klein …
Sy eet net die krummels
en gee vir ander
haar gebotterde brood
so gesond
so lekker
My klein Ouma
Vol liefde gesmeer
Jan 3, 2019
Jan 3, 2019 at 2:44 AM UTC
"Nou wie is jy?"
"Ouma, my naam is Siyasanga,
Ek is jou dogter Lalie se seun"
"My Lalie, sy wat in Suid Afrika bly?"
"Ja ouma, ek het vir ouma kom keur"
I watch on as the spark of recognition lights up her eyes
Happiness flowers through the creases on her face like fresh rain through a Namib riverbed
Her brow furrows as if trying to keep this revelation prisoner
The Sun continues its long journey across the sky
Her brow relaxes, and. . . . .
"Hello virtel my, my kind,
Wie is jy?"
"My naam is Siyasanga Ouma,
Ek is ouma se klien kind.
My ma se naam is Lalie"
"Lalie, sy is my dogter wat in Suid Afrika bly"
"Dis reg ouma, ek het vir ouma kom keur"
The spark returns
The fresh rain flows
The love warms my soul as we embrace
The Sun once more takes flight
Taking respite from the heat
I watch as she shuffles and shimmies and shuffles once more down the corridor
To the foot of the bare bed I've made my haven
Words like spun silk spill from her lips as she asks
"May I sit here my child?
"Ja my ouma, ouma hoef nie vra nie"
She shuffles and shimmies and sits down to read
What a beautiful life affair she has with words,
Even those from a magazine,
Whose pages danced that day at her touch
A letter whose ink for 2 decades laid dry
The name of the man she loved preserved in his evergreen book
Both retrieved from the vault that was her purse
Oh how she loved those words, and they loved her
She turns her head to look at me
With that spark in her eye
"Jy is my Lalie se seun"
I smile, my face awash with fresh rain
"Ja ouma, ek het vir ouma kom kuier"
Dec 4, 2019
Dec 4, 2019 at 5:52 AM UTC
Children are lucky because they have
A Grandma and a Grandmama
Nonna, Mhamó, Abuela, Bibi
Babcia, Giagiá, Avó, Oma
Nagymama, Mormor, or Kuku wahine
Are names of love for their Nan
O baachan, Babushka, Tutu, Halmeoni
Are certainly not names for a man
Ouma, Savta, Bubbi, Geema
Nai Nai, Nona, Gramms and more
Bomma, Mawmaw, Yaya, Nana
If I keep going you’ll think I’m a bore
All names for their Grandma
The one they adore
That special someone
Who’s love to the core
She plays with them, cuddles, and keeps them all warm
She feeds them, she rears them takes over the chore
But all of this just to say, lest we forget
Grandmas are LOVE LOVE LOVE and more
Oct 29, 2018
Oct 29, 2018 at 5:17 PM UTC
Now that family have separated
From the gathering your funeral brought
Can we still talk of the dearly departed?
When everyone else is so caught
Up in their own sky, clouded by judgment
That a slab of Marble brings people together
And that personal troubles is not above the weather
And the smell of rain as it drips down our hair
To fill the role of tears where our minds don't care
To the grandkids you never got to hug
To the machines that were plugged
The hospital you never awoke from
To me who never visited cause I was afraid and dumb
Do you nod your head in anger? Do your tears Bring rain?
When we stray from the right path and cause each other pain?
Do you regret like we do? Or do you forget in paradise?
Are you finally at peace? Does the ignorance suffice?
I hope you never have to see us at our worst
That only love bursts from your eyes
From the golden Skies, where you hide
That the blinding light hides the truth
That we're struggling in our youth
Find peace Ouma, and please be at the entrance when we die
So we could cry, and be suprised when you haven't changed one bit
That your joy persists and we can't resist looking back
That you're finally on track, no bills or selfish entities
That your soul is intact, and you don't lose your Amenity
Jan 10, 2025
Jan 10, 2025 at 3:41 PM UTC