Bonnie Parker: Outlaws — Billy the Kid and Clyde Barrow

BonnieParker08

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker

(1910 – 1934)

Outlaws

Billy the Kid and Clyde Barrow

Billy rode on a pinto horse
Billy the Kid I mean
And he met Clyde Barrow riding
In a little gray machine

Billy drew his bridle rein
And Barrow stopped his car
And the dead man talked to the living man
Under the morning star

Billy said to the Barrow boy
Is this the way you ride
In a car that does its ninety per
Machine guns at each side?

I only had my pinto horse
And my six-gun tried and true
I could shoot but they got me
And someday they will get you!

For the men who live like you and me
Are playing a losing game
And the way we shoot, or the way we ride
Is all about the same

And the like of us may never hope
For death to set us free
For the living are always after you
And the dead are after me

Then out of the East arose the sound
Of hoof-beats with the dawn
And Billy pulled his rein and said
I must be moving on

And out of the West came the glare of a light
And the drone of a motor’s song
And Barrow set his foot on the gas
And shouted back, ‘So long’

So into the East, Clyde Barrow rode
And Billy, into the West
The living man who can know no peace
And the dead who can know no rest
Bonnie Parker

Outlaws — Billy the Kid and Clyde Barrow
Billy rode on a pinto horse
Billy the Kid I mean
And he met Clyde Barrow riding
In a little gray machine

Billy drew his bridle rein
And Barrow stopped his car
And the dead man talked to the living man
Under the morning star

Billy said to the Barrow boy
Is this the way you ride
In a car that does its ninety per
Machine guns at each side?

I only had my pinto horse
And my six-gun tried and true
I could shoot but they got me
And someday they will get you!

For the men who live like you and me
Are playing a losing game
And the way we shoot, or the way we ride
Is all about the same

And the like of us may never hope
For death to set us free
For the living are always after you
And the dead are after me

Then out of the East arose the sound
Of hoof-beats with the dawn
And Billy pulled his rein and said
I must be moving on

And out of the West came the glare of a light
And the drone of a motor’s song
And Barrow set his foot on the gas
And shouted back, ‘So long’

So into the East, Clyde Barrow rode
And Billy, into the West
The living man who can know no peace
And the dead who can know no rest

Bonnie Parker poetry
fleursdumal.nl magazine

Eugène Marais: Die Lied van Suid-Afrika

fleursdumal 502

Eugène Marais
(1871–1936)

Die Lied van Suid-Afrika

Sy sê: ‘Ek vorder as ‘n heil’ge reg
die vrug van eindelose pyn;
ek smyt hulle oor die berge weg,
en smoor hulle in die sandwoestyn.’

Sy sê: ‘Nooit het ek iets gegee;
ek laat hulle honger, dors en bloei;
hulle worstel deur en sterf gedwee,
en min my as ‘n vlam wat skroei.

Tien male moes hulle veg vir my,
tien male moes hulle kerm en stoei,
tien male in die stof gebrei,
tien male opstaan weer en bloei.

My liefde duld geen ewenaar –
vergeefs die weeklag van die vrou,
van kleintjies al die stom gebaar:
My liefde verg ‘n enkel trou.

Hulle diepste hoop is lang verteer,
vergaan in rook en as en bloed,
hulle sak aanbiddend om my neer,
ek voel hulle trane op my voet.

Ek adem nooit hulle name meer,
nooit kon ek hulle kinders noem;
in vreemde tale hoor ek weer
die dowwe fluistering van hulle roem.

En vlymend soos ‘n swaard, geheg
bly van my liefde slegs die pyn;
ek smyt hulle oor die berge weg,
en smoor hulle in die sandwoestyn.’

Eugène Marais poetry
fleursdumal.nl magazine