African love song- Antjie Krog
neither the moist intimacy of your eyelids fair as fennel
nor the violence of your body withholding behind sheets
nor what comes to me as your life
will have so much slender mercy for me
as to see you sleeping
perhaps I see you sometimes
for the first time
you with your chest of guava and grape
your hands cool as spoons
your haughty griefs stain every corner blue
we will endure with each other
even if the sun culls the rooftops
even if the state cooks clichés
we will fill our hearts with colour
and the fireworks of finches
even if my eyes ride a rag to the horizon
even if the moon comes bareback
even if the mountain forms a conspiracy against the night
we will persist with each other
sometimes I see you for the first time
Antjie Krog is an award-winning South African poet and author. In 1990 she received a Hertzog Prize for her collection of poems titled Lady Anne. The Hertzog Prize is an award for poems, novels, and plays in the Afrikaans language.
Anna (Antjie) Elizabeth Krog was born on October 23, 1952, in Kroonstad, in what is now the Free State province of South Africa. Her mother, Dot Serfontein, was a writer. Antjie was only 18 when her first book of poetry, Dogter van Jefta, was published. Her poetry attracted attention because she wrote against South Africa's apartheid system. She studied at the University of the Orange Free State. She went on to receive a master's degree in Afrikaans from the University of Pretoria.
In the 1980s Krog worked as a high school teacher. She was also a lecturer at a college in Kroonstad. From 1995 to 2000 she worked as a journalist for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. She reported on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa. Her book Country of My Skull (1998) is about her experiences during the TRC hearings. Krog later became a university professor.
During her career, Krog wrote several collections of poetry, poems for children, a novel, and nonfiction books. She also translated a number of works. Krog won many awards for her writing. Her books were translated into many languages, including English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish.
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