“In other languages,you are beautiful- mort, muerto- I wishI spoke moon, I wish the bottom of the oceanwere sitting in that chair playing cardsand noticing how famous you areon my cell phone- picture of your eyesguarding your nose and the fireyou set by walking, picture of dawngetting up early to enthrall your skin- what I hateabout stars is they’re not those candlesthat make a joke of cake, that you blow onand they die and come back, and youyou’re not those candles either, how often I realizeI’m not breathing, to be like youor just afraid to move at all, a lungor finger, is it time alreadyfor inventory, a mountain, I have threeof those, a bag of hair, box of ashes, if youwere a cigarette I’d be cancer, if youwere a leaf, you were a leaf, every leaf, as faras this tree can say.”

“What are you thinking about?” I ask.“You. Then, and now. How beautiful youwere back then, and how even more beautiful you are now. How I wish I’d seen you through all those years, and how I’m counting myself as one lucky bastard that I got a second chance to have you in my life … and that you’re crazy enough to be mine.”

“Does a leaf, when it falls from the tree in winter, feel defeated by the cold?The tree says to the leaf:"That’s the cycle of life. You may think you’re going to die, but you live on in me. It’s thanks to you that I’m alive, because I can breathe. It’s also thanks to you that I have felt loved, because I was able to give shade to the weary traveller. Your sap is in my sap; we are one thing.”

“If I could dream, I know I'd dream about you.I'd dream about the way you smell and how your dark hair feels like silk between my fingers. I'd dream about the smoothness of your skin and the fierceness of your lips when we kiss. Without dreams,I have to be content with my own imagination—which is almost as good. I can picture all those things perfectly.”

“I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same fifty percent rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don't...Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe...same as the voodoo lady who tells you your fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles. It's all the same...so just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself...”

“Automn ill and adoredYou die when the hurricane blows in the roseriesWhen it has snowedIn the orchard treesPoor automn Dead in whiteness and richesOf snow and ripe fruitsDeep in the skyThe sparrow hawks cryOver the sprites with green hair dwarfsWho've never been lovedInthe far tree-linesThe stags are groaningAnd how I love O season how I love your rumblingThe falling fruits that no one gathersThe wind in the forest that are tumblingAll their tears in automn leaf by leaf The leaves You press A crowd That flows The life That goes”