From a collection of poems by South African poet (now deceased), Sydney Clouts, this one sprang out at me, simply entitled - SONG. Its meter and rhythm were begging to be turned into just that, a song! Clouts also happened to live and work in Grahamstown, like myself, and is still remembered here among the literary community.

The poem evokes a whirling-dervish perpetual motion; the world spins around, as does rock, body, sun, heart, or wind, all taking equal place in this great whirling dance. It echoes for me a similar momentum found in treasured poems by Rumi and Hafiz.

SONG, from the LifeCycle collection of original songs, is a proudly Makhanda/ Grahamstown collaboration. Apart from the author/poet, Sydney Clouts, who spent some years here at Rhodes University, Tshego Makube, the singer, is a student at Grahamstown's university. The art works are original paintings by Dan Wylie, also resident here and himself a poet, author and painter who happened to know Clouts and has published a book on his poetry. To further view his published books, poetry anthologies and art, go to http://www.netsoka.co.za

Makhanda, too, is my current home, from where LifeCycle songs have originated.