1
Nature is subtle and complex.Marlene Van Niekerk
2
..we all have to do things in this life that we don't like..Marlene Van Niekerk
3
...a butterfly is like the soul of a person, it dries out in captivity.Marlene Van Niekerk
4
Everything is important. To the smallest insect, even the mouldering tree, the deepest stone in the drift.Marlene Van Niekerk
5
First smile! ! An unseasonal little shower of rain fell here, and a lot of butterflies drowned, so we put them in the sun and they came back to life, and flew up and then Agaat SMILED!Marlene Van Niekerk
6
Marriage is holy and it's private.Marlene Van Niekerk
7
In a state of pseudo-death you restore your substance.Marlene Van Niekerk
8
And I will close my eyes and prepare myself so that they can unscrew my head and allow the map to slip into my lacunae. So that I can be filled and braced from the inside and fortified for the voyage. Because without my world inside me I will contract and congeal, more even than I am now, without speech and without actions and without any purchase upon time.Marlene Van Niekerk
9
Well, I am something, Ma, you hissed, I am not nothing, I am somebody and I know what I want from life and I know what to do to get it. I will provide for myself.Marlene Van Niekerk