“If I am going to drown, this isn’t such a bad way to go. Isn’t that the biggest mindfuck of all?”

“Who is good and who is bad? Life isn’t black and white, Javier. You and I, we’re just trying to live in all the grey. Isn’t that what you’ve done? Isn’t that what you want? To live?”

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”“Yes it is.””Am I allowed to call you names?”It was very very hard not to laugh. Impertinent little brat.”

“If I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?”

“You’re shaking … so am I. It’s because of Jerusalem, isn’t it? One doesn’t go to Jerusalem, one returns to it. That’s one of its mysteries.”

“I am bothered by a pain which isn’t mine I lived in a land which isn’t mine I have lived with a name which isn’t mine I have wept of grief which isn’t mine I was born out of joy which isn’t mine I die a death which isn’t mine. Ahmad Shamlu”