by Michael de Villiers (written in Stellenbosch, South Africa)

Like thunderclouds

from ocean womb born,

the promise of love,

appears on the vast horizon, white.

Like rivers and streams chanting

in gratitude for rain,

happiness and bliss,

bubbles and overflows.

But like desert flowers clinging desperately

to a barren mountain slope,

our thirst for love,

is only quenched for a while ...

(- From Unquenchable Thirst, a collection of some of my poetry & prose,

Lux Verbi, Cape Town, 1988)