Welcome to 'The duPs' - The website of Paul and Margaret du Plessis - Margaret a former Medical Social Worker, Paul a physician.
They served with The Salvation Army in Zambia, the United Kingdom, India, and their homeland of South Africa. They retired to live in Bromley, in southeast London. Margaret passed away in 2019.
Their children, Catherine and Andre, and the wider family have always meant a lot to them. Placing Paul’s poems and other information on a website has been a family request for some years. Grandson, David, took on the project and became the website architect.
Please enjoy reading Paul's poems which reflect something of their life experiences.
Margaret has researched the life of Louisa Mary Tucker, the first wife of pioneer Indian missionary, Frederick Tucker.
Please use the menu on the left and the search function in the top right to navigate through the site.
Here is Paul's most recent poem:
The Last Breakfast
- Details
- Written August 2021
Grateful for so much in a world of so little,
Just a cup, mere clay moulded for use,
Not unwanted, not unloved,
Past 'best before', its usefulness done,
Ready for disposal or possibly a make-over,
So we ascend the steps of the scaffold of execution,
While the hangman strides, hands behind his back
As they're tossed into the cauldron that is just a skip,
Shattering on impact with bomb-blasting echo
To become nothing with others in a common grave,
Dismembered, but remembered as bread is broken,
Sharing another cup, another life, and more love
While someone else gives his life for another.
August 2021
On leaving our home in Bromley for the last 21 years