31/01/2026
“She Sat With Us in the Music”
(Vivian Kleynhans)
She never entered a room loudly, yet somehow the air always made space for her.
Soft voice, steady eyes, the kind of presence that made you unclench parts of yourself you didn’t know were tight.
She carried poems the way others carry handbags, always one ready,
creased from love, lined with truth.
We gathered around tables
that held more than plates,
there was song between the salt and pepper, Verna, Venetia, Vivian and Di.
We sometimes joke and try finding her another name, starting with a V
Laughter tucked into the corners of bowls, and stories poured out richer than the wine.
We shout out loud as we cheer.
We are Victorious ….. V’s
She listened like it was an art form.
Not waiting to speak, but receiving.
Holding your words as if they were fragile glass or sacred scripture.
And yet, inside that gentleness
lived a quiet fire.
She spoke for those whose voices shook.
She stood where things were unjust not with noise, but with unwavering presence.
A poet who believed that words could build bridges and also tear down walls.
How rare, to be both a soft place to land and a force that moved the ground.
Now our circle feels her shape missing, an empty chair
that still somehow feels full.
Because love like hers does not leave the room,
it settles into memory, into the way we pass the bread,
into the pauses between songs,
into the courage we borrow when we choose kindness and when we choose to stand.
Next time we gather, we will speak her name like a verse we know by heart.
We will tell her stories again,
and in the telling she will sit with us in the music, in the poetry, in the tender hush
after laughter fades.
And we will remember:
she showed us how to be gentle without being small,
how to love deeply, and how to leave this world still echoing.
Your legacy will live on forever Dr Diana Ferrus.