“He will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required”

“He brushed my tears from my face. "How did I find you?" "Maybe I'm exactly where I should be after all.”

“They are all leaving me, Daddy," I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I'm going to be here all alone with all these secrets.”

“I laugh shakily. ‘You’re a little scary, Four.’‘Do me a favor,’ he says, ‘and don’t call me that.’‘What should I call you, then?’‘Nothing.’ He takes his hand from my face. ‘Yet.”

“If the Lord chooses to make nothing of our transgressions, then they are nothing. Or whatever reality they have is trivial and conditional beside the exquisite primary fact of existence. Of course the Lord would wipe them away, just as I wipe dirt from your face, or tears. After all, why should the Lord bother much over these snitches that are no part of His Creation? Well, there are a good many reasons why He should. We human beings do real harm. History could make a stone weep.”

“Her tear-streaked face is beautiful. I want to wipe away her tears. I want to take the last ten years and erase them. I want to start over.”