Category: Quotes

What is striking

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art

We are so small and
the greatness is so great. […]
What is striking is
the enormous force of weakness.

~ Hélène Cixous, from “The Cauliflower of the Lautaret,” Love Itself: In the Letter Box

Credits: Image – Exactly  Poem: The Journey of Words

 

Lightly child, lightly

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bubble-art

I exist.
It is soft, so soft, so slow.
And light:
it seems as though it suspends in the air.
It moves.

~ Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea

Credits:

  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”
  • Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
  • Image Source: The Sensual Starfish

 

And I know now what a moment can hold

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bath-tub

And then I hear the water rumbling into the tub. Naked, the baby’s arms and long legs flail against the bare air, and she wails. “Oh you,” I whisper, unable yet to call her by my name, “it’s all right.” I want my joy pure, I want to get rid of the echo in my head. This is my granddaughter, named for me. This beautiful child. I gather her up, nuzzling her soft face, and bring her into the bathroom, and my daughter, her breasts heavy with milk, reaches up her arms for the child. The moment she is lowered into the water the baby stops crying, her body goes limp, her eyelids drop—it all happens at once. Under her half-closed lids her irises are now moving left to right, over and over, rhythmically, as if to a beat. At first I am afraid, and put my hand in the water to make sure it’s not too hot, but it is fine, comfortable. We don’t speak, but my daughter touches my arm as we realize what we are looking at, what the two of us are being shown. This is the face of the unborn child. And I know now what a moment can hold.

~ Abigail Thomas, What the Moment Can Hold. Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life

Photo: With Love and Light