Too Fierce to Mention

Pied crow scavenging. Photo by John Fincham

*Oh, oh, the pied crow! / All the way to Mossel Bay / Flying high and swinging low / At the big sea turns to go.*

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Some things are too fierce to mention

But I mention them anyway!

I remember these crows from my childhood

In the "monstrous Karoo" (young Burchell's words)

Highly intelligent birds, they peck out the eyes

Of lambs—and sheep drought has weakened

There used to be a bounty on them—a shilling, I think

Someone once showed me a small bag of crows' heads

You took them to the police station and got paid.

Burchell loved Africa, especially perhaps the Karoo. Many years later in England, grown old and famous,

Filled with anguish, he killed himself

I told you some things were too fierce to mention

Descending from the mountains near Graaff-Reinet

*Aai, aai, die Witborskraai!

Hiervandaan na Mosselbaai

Hoog gevlieg en laag geswaai

By die groot see omgedraai

--Afrikaans traditional ditty

A poem also using this epigraph, titled "Onsin" ("Nonsense"), appeared in Idyssey on September 1, 2023.

https://groundup.org.za/article/where-lambs-have-no-eyes_3002/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Burchell

Thursday, November 27. 2025