Jaco Nieman (Step brother in South Africa)

Jaco wrote these two very special poems for Hendri which was captured in the Centurion memorial leaflet on 28 Jan 2011:

           Remember me

…for

Africa lived in my heart

her spirit in my soul

her people transformed my mind

her mysterious rhythm made me whole

Close your eyes

feel me, hear me , taste me, see me

for

I am the warm tears on your cheeks

like the song of the green spotted dove

and the lonely jackal’s cry

like the shy plover’s call

and the black mane’s midnight roar

I am the smile in your heart

like the waterfall’s fine drifting spray

and the dawn’s fresh cool breeze

like the peaceful river’s flow

and the noise of the quiet night

I am the strength in your heart

like a thousand winds that blow

and the gushing rapids of the Nile

like the warm African sun

                                and the thunder in the storm

I would never live a better day

“I would never live a better day.”

he closes off his last ever blog entry

the Great White explorer unknowingly says goodbye

to a life undefined by society’s boundaries

content with where he was and who he was

answering mankind’s ancient riddle, and yet

      we cannot comprehend a life not lived by our standards

                            nor truly understand his joy, his passion , his peace

     We wonder about his freedom from this world

      a life lived not to gather and collect but to embrace

                             to understand the  human spirit, to soak up nature’s beauty,

                              a life lived to explore, to discover, to learn, to experience.

In achieving God’s purpose he became the person most are too afraid to be 

by risking his life to truly live, it became  a celebration and a sweet reminder

that every day is an opportunity of which the final entry must be:

“I would never live a better day”

                        – In loving memory of Hendri Coetzee, The Great White Explorer