“Before them is the most beautiful city she has ever seen, has ever imagined. Golden rooftops shine brightly; windows made from diamonds and rubies gleam; tall buildings reach toward the clouds. She...”

“She is no longer a solitary being. She is a million different parts, each reborn, granted the miracle she prayed for in the months before her death, to be completely healed. Death is the price for ...”

“Seven a.m. on the first day of summer vacation was, to her mind, a dangerous time to be awake. Even God had to be sleeping in.”

“He looked, well, sturdier than he used to. His shoulders were square and, naturally, broader than before. His neck, a bit thicker. He probably had an Adams apple now too, like any man did. If he tu...”

“And in front of it all are the pearly gates: the proverbial entrance to Heaven that she, in earthly life, thought might not exist. But they are real, not myth or fantasy.As she passes through them,...”

“When she awakes, she knows where she is. This place, this ancient place sears ones soul with recognition. 'Heaven' seems an inadequate word for it, but that is what it is known as.”

“Scarcely has night arrived to undeceive, unfurling her wings of crepe (wings drained even of the glimmer just now dying in the tree-tops); scarcely has the last glint still dancing on the burnished...”

“EVENTIDEDark and light strikingeach other,vividly etching wild colorsthrough the horizon.The charm of sunset makes me wantto scurry home.”

“Dusk At The CountrysideThe fire-glow greetsthe ingress of nightfalland thenceforth, over the sublime specter, argent stars convene.”

“If in any quest for magic, in any search for sorcery, witchery, legerdemain, first check the human spirit.”

“It may be laid down as a general rule that if a man begins to sing, no one will take any notice of his song except his fellow human beings. This is true even if his song is surpassingly beautiful. ...”

“Magic or nature, they were much the same thing to Magnus.”

“Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second.”

“The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.”

“During my eleven years as a New York City public school teacher, I saw firsthand the impact that poverty has on the classroom. In low-income neighborhoods like Sunset Park, where I taught, students...”