D.J. Opperman – translated by/vertaal deur Ilse Gertenbach
Klara Majola
It was Klara Majola who
went searching for Dad at dusk
collecting wood for the fire, was he, a blind man;
but Klara Majola got lost.
Little Klara Majola lies frozen
on the brittle Bokkeveld frost,
her arms and legs brown
and contorted as a vine.
Klara Majola, this cold violence
sifts more slowly from space over my sense.
but never will I, in the Bokkeveld
warm like you, Klara Majola, freeze to death.
(Translation of Klara Majola from “Engel uit die klip” (1950) by D.J. Opperman (1914-1985)
By Ilze Gertenbach)