“I imagined my first night alone in bed with my stranger. I conjured our future years together unhampered by worries about money or officialdom. We would enjoy the day, the night, a smile, a word, a...”

“How can the moon be scooped from the water's surface, or flowers be plucked from the void?”

“I want a marriage of companionsone of shared lives and shared poems,' he murmured. 'If we were husband and wife, we would collect books, read, and drink tea together. As I told you before, I'd want...”

“Perhaps he was afraid as I was that we'd be caught. Or perhaps he was breathing me in just as I was letting him come into my lungs, my eyes, my heart.”

“He was in my hair, my eyes, my fingers, my heart. I day-dreamed about what he was doing, thinking, seeing, smelling, feeling. I could not eat for thoughts of him.”

“I want a marriage of companions—one of shared lives and shared poems,' he murmured. 'If we were husband and wife, we would collect books, read, and drink tea together. As I told you before, I'd wan...”

“He tried to name which of the deadly seven might apply, and when he failed he decided to append an eighth, regret.”

“I now, weak, old, diseased, poor, dying, hold still my soul in my hands, and I regret nothing.”

“Regrets came up and asked me if Id like to own them. Declined them for the most part but took a few just so I wouldnt leave this relationship empty handed.”

“People always say life is too short for regrets. But the truth is, it's too long.”

“Benj had once said, "A man must have a care to what he puts in his mind, for when he's alone on a hillside and draws it out he'll want treasures to be his company, not regrets.”

“It's too late.I chose life too late.”