1

Peter was my father

His name meant the rock

Me, I’m his daughter

A chip off the old block

We lived our story in Cape Town at the tip of Africa, 

Where two oceans meet

A warm current and a cold current clash into each other

Clouds rise above it, it rains, then repeats

This geological drama spills into the city

And fills it’s families with thunderous contradictions

And native tendencies towards polarising religions

Our family were evangelical christians

And when we prayed

some of us wondered if God really listened

Not my dad

He was sure

First Peter chapter 2 verse 4 speaks

Of the rock as a stone which lays foundations

But it also says if you’re not aware of your own intentions

A stone can trip you up

Not knowing thyself is bad luck

This is the alchemy of lies

Smoke gets in your eyes

Like fog on the mountainside

Hiding the way home

2

I never lie to myself

Do you?

Me I speak only what is true

How about you?

God laughs at my father’s cheeky spirit as it proves itself wrong

And takes the shape of a blustering wind

Then God says, ‘What would you like to learn next at Earth School?’

Skipping over the tops of waves my father’s spirit says,

This time I want to learn how to lie!

And the holy ghost rolls its eyes

Why?

You see, In my last life I was a stand-up sort of guy

It was dry

Yes, Amen, goodbye

This time I wanna lie

Give me Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I want a wild ride

A shiny coin, 2 sides

God sighs - On one condition, the only person you will deceive is you

You’ll have to dig deep to decipher what is true

My father’s spirit stops blowing as wind

And in the hanging silence he takes this in

But if I lie to myself will I not be a fool?

… If you think about it

The court jester is there to inform the King

The jokes and jests hold truth

But it’s just more entertaining!

I’ll take it - but God, along the way will you send me a clue?

God says, Oh don’t worry, I will challenge you 

When the rock runs dry and truth becomes necessary like water

I’ll send you a mirror, in the form of a human daughter

3

I look at you before we start the climb

I know we are here for the last time

So I brought you to Lion’s Head

The cone shaped peak next to Table Mountain

It’s the one you climb in circular motion

Alternating in view from the city to the ocean

From the city to the ocean

Round and round we go

Circling the point

And all the things I need to know

When we get to the top

Thick clouds roll over Cape Town from the sea

Usually the reward at the summit is clear panoramic views

But this time, it’s just me and you

At this point I ask, ‘Hey, so in the old days, what was the deal?’

A torrent of jokes deflect my question as you struggle to get real

And as the clouds hide our city from vision

I suddenly understand your decision

It’s not that you couldn’t feel

This was just not something you had the tools to heal

Sitting beside you, I felt alone

Trying to reach you was like drawing blood from a stone

As the wind howled I understood that deep down your intentions were good

But good Lord were there a few things you misunderstood

Suddenly little keyhole partings appeared through the clouds

Revealing bits of the obscured view

And I catch a glimmer of you

A glimmer of truth

Second Peter Verse two 

Speaks of a mountain that can be moved

And it dawns on me that you have nothing really to prove

Father, daughter, mountain, air

we were, are and always will be together there

Me, I’m a chip from a rock named Peter

Thanks for the parables Dad,

It made me a healer.