“The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving.”

“If everyone knew exactly what I was going to say, then there would be no point in my saying it, would there?”

“I would not sing you to sleep. I would press my lips to your ear and hope the terror in my heart stirs you.”

“If you're going into a dark place... you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?”

“If you're going into a very dark place, then you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?”

“Or I would be the rain itself, wreathing over the island, mingling in the quiet of moist places, filling its pores with its saturated breaths. And I would be the wind, whispering through the tangled woods, running airy fingers over the island’s face, tingling in the chill of concealed places, sighing secrets in the dawn. And I would be the light, flinging over the island, covering it with flash and shadow, shining on rocks and pools, softening to a touch in the glow of dusk. If I were the rain and wind and light, I would encircle the island like the sky surrounding earth, flood through it like a heart driven pulse, shine from inside it like a star in flames, burn away to blackness in the closed eyes of its night. There are so many ways I could love this island, if I were the rain.”