“My eyes close. I am here and not here. A waking nap? A flight to the end of the galaxy and perhaps a couple of billion light-years beyond?”

“Here I am of the air, a beautiful thing for the light to shine on. Perhaps you will remember that. I am...”

“Who worries for dying? If I close my eyes tonight, I will either dream, or not, or my eyes will open and I will be here again. And if none of those happen, and I do not wake? Who worries for dying?”

“Circus performers and variety shows will never captivate me in the same way as steppes or rainforests, or the sky's uncountable galaxies and all the billions of light years that separate them.”

“My home is a red desert that trembles with spirits and bones.There are two reasons I came here: my father's death, and the lion man who prowled my dreams. Perhaps it was coincidence, but a man--half wild, ravenous beyond words--slid from the dream world into the mud of the waking one the same year my father left this world for another.Ghosts. Paw prints. I have tried to stay put.”

“I want you here when I go to sleep." He licks my bottom lip. "And I want you here when I wake up. Starting and ending my day with you is all I need.”