“Mind led bodyto the edge of the precipice.They stared in desireat the naked abyss.If you love me, said mind,take that step into silence.If you love me, said body,turn and exist.”

“You sleep with a dream of summer weather,wake to the thrum of rain—roped down by rain.Nothing out there but drop-heavy feathers of grass and rainy air. The plastic table on the terracehas shed three legs on its way to the garden fence. The mountains have had the sense to disappear. It's the Celtic temperament—wind, then torrents, then remorse.Glory rising like a curtain over distant water.Old stonehouse, having steered us through the dark,docks in a pool of shadow all its own.That widening crack in the gloom is like good luck.Luck, which neither you nor tomorrow can depend on.”

“I don't remember who said this, but there really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child.”

“Sam said to me the other day, "I love you like 20 tyrannosauruses on 20 mountaintops," and this is the exact same way in which I love him.”

“Dear God," she said. She was shuddering suddenly and the tears came back and she looked past me into the light overhead. "If I can't trust you, then there is no one." "I love you" I said. "I don't care about any of it, I swear. I love you." Holy Communion," she said. squeezing her eyes so the tears came out.Yes Holy Communion, my darling," I said.”

“She tilted her head to one side, considering him. "Do you love me?""Love is a trick and a sham. A foolish plague and a lie and a torment.""Do you love me?" she repeated, quite calmly. Knowing the answer."Yes, may it curse my soul.""May it save your soul," she said.”

“I wish you'd fall in love with me," she said."Why?""Because you're really someone worth falling in love with. And if we were in love, I wouldn't be drifting. I wouldn't be nobody. At least not while I was with you.”