Garth Dutton

Kruger – A Poem

Kruger
© Garth Dutton 2004

It’s said Paul Kruger suffered
a crisis of Faith
as the game herds dwindled
and rare plants became rarer.
Players here since
the Dreamtime of Creation
were leaving the stage
one by one.
Unable to contemplate
a bare stage, an empty land,
Kruger left two legacies.
One was the great Park
that today bears his name,
the other a fear
that extinction might happen
to peoples as well.
It took Nelson Mandela
to allay that fear,
and so enable
Apartheid to be abandoned.

Tags: apartheid, garth dutton, kruger, poet, Poetry, south africa