Versindaba
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Versindaba kompetisie vir vertaalde gedigte (90)

Hendrik J. Botha. Vertaling van Afrikaans in Engels. Vert. deur Hendrik J. Botha.

Love bar none

For thirty years in Hammanskraal

you taught students to read and write,

wisened them in the arts of science and geography.

They looked up to you: schoolteacher, sage, hero.

But on a Saturday in September

the tables were abruptly turned:

a boy of ten with sun bleached hair,

alabaster–blue eyes with a gaze

of a different kind.

Three days after a hit and run

– a taxi without brakes, sirens and lights –

he grants you a kidney

in the blink of an eye.

***

Oor die kleurgrens

Hendrik Botha

‘n Liefdesgedig

Vir dertig jaar in Hammanskraal,

leer jy kinders lees en skryf,

maak hulle wys in wiskunde en geografie.

Kyk hulle op na jou, die skoolmeester en heer.

Op ‘n Saterdagaand in September

word die bordjies plotseling verhang:

‘n seun van tien, sonblond, oë albasterblou

kyk áf na jou.

Ná ‘n tref–en–trap drie dae terug

–‘n taxi sonder remme,

ligte, sirenes –

skenk hy

sonder om ‘n oog te knip,

vannag vir jou ‘n nier.

Bronverwysing:

Botha,  Hendrik J. Atropos. 2015. Kaapstad: Queillerie, NB Uitgewers. p. 34.