Ragdolls On Bureaucracy’s Door-Step

--- Eternally young, I will rejoice while repeating my
well-known song ---

Deepak Chopra mentions experiments
where old people taken back to their youth
environment were rejuvenated in body and
soul, I smiled, this is what I do all the time

Rereading the stories and books of my youth
Alice In Wonderland is lined up next to my bed
I have Keurboslaan ready, time to reread the
1933 Bible translation in Afrikaans

Reliving my youth by reciting Psalm 23 - ‘Die
Here is my herder, Hy laat my neerlê in groen
weivelde, na waters waar rus is, lei Hy my heen’
adding Anna Rudolph’s songs

‘In sy skadutjie rondom sy stam op die grond staan
my boompie die hele dag rond’ en ‘Ons is die blom-
metjies blou en geel, ons staan waar ons staan want
ons kan nêrens gaan…’

Darn, this is a description of our life as government
officials – ‘Here we stand simply because we can go
nowhere else’ - loss of freedom clearly delineated in
the songs of my youth

Let me add ‘Iemand het ‘n lappop op die ashoop weg-
gegooi, sy was gedaan en stukkend, gelap en nie meer
mooi, op die ashoop hoor sy stemme praat en die
verwelkom haar, maar oe ellendig

Toe sy kyk, wat sien die lappop daar’ – tears are stinging
my eyes, we are the ragdolls left on bureaucracy’s door-
step, darned and broken, see senior officials reduced
to despondency and bitter smiles

Living tattered lives in a corporate nightmare ‘Net ‘n vrot
pampoen en ‘n stukkende skoen, ‘n verlepte angelier en
‘n leë bottel bier, ‘n ou grammafoonplaat en ‘n kous sonder
maat, ‘n gelapte binneband en ‘n ou koerant’

I recognise us in this motley assortment, an old pumpkin and
a broken shoe, a wilted carnation, an empty can of beer, an
old gramophone record, a lonely sock, a patched tube, an old
journal’ - I must be the old gramophone record

Turning over and over in the same groove; luckily according to
Deepak Chopra, Eastern guru par excellence, this procedure
keeps me eternally young, so I will rejoice while repeating my
well-known song…