Rock-Fall Poem by Gert Strydom

The winter rain was pouring down
while with the yellow BMW
I was going through the mountain pass
when suddenly the mountain came alive,
leaped towards me,
propelling huge boulders and smaller rocks
crushing all around the car
in a congealed second the Titan Adamastor
across time did range and materialise right there,
or I or this severe storm or something
had awaken him from his sleep,

where he ragged-rough hung gigantic and menacing
with the fury of aeons,
in his glaring red eyes,
his muscles bulged while he picked up
another rock and flung it with all his might

the road was slippery,
the front wheels lost grip somewhat,
the precipice was almost upon me
when I just touched the brakes,
geared down,
just in time the car got grip again

but this did not stop the elder-god Adamastor
from tossing that rock right in front of the car
where it did explode into a hailstorm of smaller rocks
which miraculously just missed the car
but the car jerked as the front right wheel did hit something.

Time froze as just happens
when adrenaline do rush through the body
and the mind,
when a person is in a kind of ecstasy
where everything was now in slow motion
the car did skid again but found grip again,
the wheel did respond,
I geared down,
the lower gear did have all the power
of six cylinders roaring back at that beast
while the tarred road streched out before the car
and it picked up speed
did race through the rest of the mountain pass
but before Worchester when I was out of the pass
an eighteen-wheeled truck blinded me,
I flashed on all four of the headlights on bright
for it to dim its lights
and in that moment while the car was doing
a hundred and eighty kilometres an hour
the front right tyre did burst,
the car jerked but the power steering
helped me to keep control
while sparks did fly up as if from a grinder
form the metal rim
where it was directly on the tar
and I was able to bring the car safely to a halt
right next to the highway.