“When tears come, I breathe deeply and rest. I know I am swimming in a hallowed stream where many have gone before. I am not alone, crazy, or having a nervous breakdown . . . My heart is at work. My soul is awake.”

“I am never alone wherever I am. The air itself supplies me with a century of love. When I breathe in, I am breathing in the laughter, tears, victories, passions, thoughts, memories, existence, joys, moments, and the hues of the sunlight on many tones of skin; I am breathing in the same air that was exhaled by many before me. The air that bore them life. And so how can I ever say that I am alone?”

“I am not crying, but have tears in my heart.”

“I only know that you are the breath in my lungs, the beat of my heart, the ache in my soul, and without you, I am empty.”

“I am in the jungle and I am too fast for you. You have teeth and stripes and things that tear. But I am much too fast… You want my flesh, but you don’t know where the jungle is… Only I know where the jungle is… Only I know…I am a gazelle.I am a gazelle and the jungle is my home.”

“I am poor, but I am rich. I have my children, I have a garden with roses, and I have my faith and the memories of those who have gone before me. What more is there?”