Chris van Wyk's first (and only) book of poems, It Is Time to Go Home, was published in 1979 when he was just 22. He went on to become a well-known and much-loved writer of memoirs, biographies, and children's stories. But he continued to write poems; some were published in literary magazines and some in his autobiographical book Shirley, Goodness & Mercy (2004). This volume brings together a selection of these poems, along with a substantial selection from his first book.