Waiting my turn in a queue, I read to myself from the proof copy of Absolute Africa! the poem Heart by Andries Walter Oliphant.
I reflect upon the energies of Mercy and Compassion and wonder what prompts them to arise in the human heart.
I look out the shop window at diamonds of rain falling from the sky.
Then I see, through a lull in rushing traffic, the figure of a girl in orange crouched against the grey highway bridge.
She seems to be in prayer, rocking back and forth.
I buy her a cup of cocoa and a muffin.
She dips her finger into the chocolate foam and licks it.
She drinks slowly on this bitter Cape winter day.
Sometimes just the splash of colour is enough to call the heart.
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HEART
by Andries Walter Oliphant
Heart is head
And dreaming feet
Heart is wound
And healing
Heart is silence
And desire
Heart is stone
Heart is happiness
And pain
Heart is earth
And abstract
Heart is a face
Heart is door,
Street and gate
Heart is birth
And burning sheets
Heart hunkering
Is a river
Heart laughing
Is vermillion
Heart is throat
And honeysuckle
Heart is arms
And heart is eyes
Heart is fury,
Fire and frost
Heart is rain,
Sky and kisses
Heart is breast
And fragrant jasmine
Heart is breathing
Heart is noun,
Verb and adjective
Heart beats
Absolute Africa! An anthology of poems selected by Patricia Schonstein
ISBN 978-0-620-73537-7
African Sun Press ww.afsun.co.za