“Are the angels of her bed the angelswho come near me alone in mine?Are the green trees in her windowthe color is see in ripe plums?If she always sees backwardand upside down without knowing itwhat chance do we have? I am hauntedby the feeling that she is sayingmelting lords of death, avalanches,rivers and moments of passing through,And I am replying, "Yes, yes.Shoes and pudding.”

“I do not mourn the loss of my sister because she will always be with me, in my heart," she says. "I am, however, rather annoyed that my Tara has left me to suffer you lot alone. I do not see as well without her. I do not hear as well without her. I do not feel as well without her. I would be better off without a hand or a leg than without my sister. Then at least she would be here to mock my appearance and claim to be the pretty one for a change. We have all lost our Tara, but I have lost a part of myself as well.”

“There's a willow tree that stands by my river She holds me in her arms when I am cold. And we listen to the sounds Of the pebbles on the ground, And I know what it means to be old.”

“That's when a woman finds herself--when she's in love. I don't care if she is old or fat or homely or prosy. She feels that little flutter under her ribs and she drops from the tree like a ripe plum.”

“I can still see her face -- The sorrow in her eyes, her voice, as she condemns me. I didn't know it was possible to feel such shame. To feel so sick at heart.I'm lost inside, my soul -- all that I thought I was, and am, and ever will be -- shattered, cast to the winds.Compared to this, death is a mercy.”

“I have heard of daydreams – is she in a daydream now? Her eyes are fixed on the floor, but I am sure they do not see it – her sight seems turned in, gone down into her heart: she is looking at what she can remember, I believe; not at what is really present.”