I am delighted to report that a fourth stanza has materialised for “Shepherd Girl”, this after the third seemed too abrupt a conclusion to the vignette. Moreover, I am considering an Afrikaans version of the poem—not a mere translation, but a composition in its own right (my first in that language). Afrikaans—what I call low-resolution Dutch (from which it is derived)—is my mother’s mother tongue, a superb language for rhyme. Already I have translated one of the rough stanzas as a test, but first, there are weeks of work on the English draft to be done.
creative process
I officially started developing the “Shepherd Girl” poetic sketch today. The original draft consisted of several rough stanzas that outlined the substance of the poem—ideas and rhymes not fully formed, which I put in a coherent order a few days ago. From these, I have now extracted three promising stanzas, the framework of the poem. At its heart, “Shepherd Girl” is a glimpse into my mother’s childhood, wrestling beauty from the harsh realities of her youth (gleaned from many a tale in bittersweet nostalgia).
Summits Scaled in Stanzas
“Mountains”, a two-stanza ode to the mountain ranges that line the Overberg region of the Western Cape of South Africa, is complete. What has to be one of the roughest poetic sketches I have ever jotted down—the first line, much to my embarrassment, began with “The something something mountain…”—is now a vivid lyric poem.
At first, I had little hope for the sketch, but its subject called out to me and I had to make an attempt. I am pleased I did! I shall reflect upon the composition in the days to come. Once I am satisfied I have exhausted all possibilities, I shall move to the next sketch—in all likelihood, “Shepherd Girl”, a vignette of my mother’s childhood.
Forgotten Fields 