My vreugdes en frustrasies

A and I Poetry

#AandIPoetryChallenge: March 2018 – This Day

Port Edward Beach, KwaZulu-Natal South Coast

This is my entry for Ineke and Amanda‘s A and I Poetry Challenge for March 2018.

I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to join up for a poetry challenge. My knowledge of this genre is paltry and haphazard, to say the least. Anyhoo, I requested Google assistance, and here I am. Please don’t throw me out because of an inadequate first try – I might just learn something if I can stay the full six months.

Ineke, you will recognise the location of the photo which inspired me – the main beach of Port Edward. We spent a lovely day driving down the coast and the soft serve with just a taste of rum was one of the highlights of the outing. The sun was scorching. Held up against the cool blue skies and the blue water of the Indian Ocean, the sight of the fast melting ice-cream made a beautiful contrast. It was just one of those days that one wants to hold onto forever.

I started out with a short poem in Afrikaans, my train of thought being, the shorter the poem and the least said, the less pain my audience will have to endure:

Hierdie dag
wat ek graag wou vashou
het gesmelt
en weggedrup uit my hand

Then I thought I might just as well try my hand at a haiku with 5/7/5 syllable count.

This beautiful day
I wished to hold in my hand
just melted away

Groete van die Suidkus en ek hoop die uitdaging gaan ‘n reuse-sukses wees!

 

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32 Comments

  1. Great, dear Hester! I likes the cones! 🙂

  2. Being Afrikaans I appreciate the Afrikaans version more, but maybe I must polish up on my Japanese culture knowledge to appreciate a Haiku more. Miskien uit jou hand gedrup maar nie uit jou gedagtes nie Hester.

  3. Aitsa… dis nogal besonders – so half hartseer.

  4. Baie besonders, Hester!

  5. You say you are a beginner poet, Hester, but Haiku is not easy to formulate. I think you have done so well. Your poem and Haiku are so touchingly delicate and evocative of something that is transient, and yet so sweet that we wish to hold it in our memories for just a little longer! Life is full of challenges and so our memories of these sweet moments sustain us! I look forward to seeing what you come up with next! You clearly have a talent for words.

    • Comment by post author

      HesterLeyNel

      Thank you, Amanda, for your lovely compliment. I look forward to reading all entries, and learning from yourself and the other bloggers as well.

      • I think it will be a lot of fun! And laid back too. No pressure challenges, are the best kind of challenge.

  6. Ek be-aam Amanda se woorde. Vir my wat geen idee van digkuns het lees joue baie lekker en in volle gevoel. Ek sal my sokkies moet optrek. Dis egter waaroor dit gaan: die uitdaging om te probeer. Baie dankie vir die deelname.

    • Comment by post author

      HesterLeyNel

      Dankie vir die kompliment en dankie dat jy my bewus gemaak het van die uitdaging. Ek is seker ek gaan baie leer hier.

  7. Jy is braaf, ek haal my hoed vir jou af. Die foto, die beskrywing plus jou gedig is ń groot sukses, Hester.

    • Comment by post author

      HesterLeyNel

      Baie dankie, Una, ek het nog altyd daarvan gehou om gedigte lees, maar nooit gedink ek sal my hand daaraan waag nie.

  8. Jy het moed Hester. Die paar woorde stel dit so mooi.

  9. The haiku has turned beautiful. 🙂

  10. The first one I can only trust to be good, but for the second one I can see it’s true. 🙂

  11. lieflike, gevoelvolle haiku

  12. Hello! I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed your poem in Afrikaans for today’s NaPoWriMo challenge. I was supposed to take a photograph and a poem in a foreign language and “translate” it to fit the photograph. I quote you and link to you. Here is my post:

    https://manjameximovie3.wordpress.com/2018/04/05/day-five-thursday-doors-5-4-18-my-dog-sighs/

    • Comment by post author

      HesterLeyNel

      No, of course not, borrow away. I loved your pictures, they really are great, but I must tell you – the translation really cracked me up, although it fit your theme just swell.

  13. Great narration. The haiku is dope. Wish you could’ve translated the Afrikaans poem.

    • Comment by post author

      HesterLeyNel

      The Afrikaans poem is in essence a translation of the English haiku, but this time I used the structure of the short poem. Thank you for the compliment and for visiting my blog. I headed over to yours and I really liked what I read.