Well, I hope it was written by him – it’s in his handwriting, but could have been transcribed from somewhere else. However, knowing his sense of humour, and his talent for penning bawdy limericks in the “seaside postcard” style, I’d like to think that these are his! I found these two humorous pieces of unpolished prose jotted on a piece of cardboard among some of Beau’s stuff at my mother’s house in Pretoria in 2008. Difficult to say when they date from, but as they are written in ballpoint pen, and as my father moved into a more Afrikaans speaking work environment in 1965, I would guess that these pieces come from the late-60’s. If you speak Afrikaans (or Flemish), please enjoy...
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Daar was gebore ‘n man – Jan Magiel,
Die enigste man met ‘n kurktrekker piel.
Hy het gesoek in die noord, suid, wes en oos,
Vir ‘n vrou met dieselfde tiepe van doos.
En toe hy haar vind, slaan hy dood neer op die daad,
Want die vrou het gehad ‘n linksom draad.
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Daar was ‘n man van Australieë,
Hy’t sy gat geverf soos ‘n daliah.
Die kleur was mooi, die patron was pragtig,
Maar die geur, O my God allemagtig.
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Ja swaer...good to see he had a sense of humour in a couple of languages :-)
Cheers, MAlfaRK ©
Postscript: On Kruger Day (October 10, 2009) my mate, Schalk Vorster, sent me a link to the strange vintage corkscrew image above (French c.1900), as well as an English poem that could have served as the inspiration for the Afrikaans effort:
Here lies the bones of screwy Rick
Cursed at death with a corkscrew dick
Spent his life in a futile hunt
To find a girl with a corkscrew cunt
He found that girl, but now he is dead
The no account bitch had a left-hand thread.
In a bar long since closed in Greensburg, PA
