being human

[reverancepavane]

We meet people. And fall in love. And when we part, they leave marks for us to remember them by. Our lovers sculpt us. They define us. For better or worse. Like a pinball we slam into them and rebound in a different direction, propelled by the contact. And after the parting, we might be scarred. But stronger. Or more fragile or needy or angry or guilty. But never unchanged. Our lovers linger inside us like ghosts haunting the corridors and deserted rooms. Sometimes whispering. Sometimes screaming. Invisible, but always there. Waiting. – George

Comments

[submarine-bells.livejournal.com]

Ayup. And in a similar vein, here's a few quotes that I like:

"Had I not seen the Sun, I could have borne the shade." - Emily Dickinson

"But pain... seems to me an insufficient reason not to embrace life. Being dead is quite painless. Pain, like time, is going to come on regardless. Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain?" - Lois McMaster Bujold

"We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us; leaving nothing but a memory of the smell of smoke and a presumption that our eyes once watered." - Tom Stoppard

[reverancepavane.livejournal.com]

Or my favourite Princess Bride quote: "Life is pain, Your Highness. Anybody that tells you differently is trying to sell you something." But I've always had a thing for collecting voice-over quotes that introduce or close an episode, as well as those quotes that are used to proceed chapters in a book (they have a technical name, but for the life of me I can't remember it).

[molokov-au.livejournal.com]

Very well sculpted episode, and I guess it has many things you can identify with too... can't wait for next week's finale.

What do you think Annie said to Owen?

[reverancepavane.livejournal.com]

The men with sticks and ropes. Personally I'd be scared stiff too when I discovered that the afterlife was full of morris dancers and cowboys...

[reverancepavane.livejournal.com]

There are lots of things to like about the series. But explicitly identify with. Maybe. Maybe not. But I enjoy evocative quotes, especially if they lead-in an episode. I also liked last week's lead-in voiceover. But I know people that would have hit me if I started quoting existential vampire angst. <grin>

But true love leaves no traces

[finella-c.livejournal.com]

There are lots of things to like about the series. But explicitly identify with. Maybe. Maybe not.

As the mist leaves no scar
On the dark green hill
So my body leaves no scar
On you and never will
Through windows in the dark
The children come, the children go
Like arrows with no targets
Like shackles made of snow

True love leaves no traces
If you and I are one
It's lost in our embraces
Like stars against the sun

(from "True Love Leaves No Traces", Leonard Cohen)

not that i resemble in any way what i'm saying here, mind you

[reverancepavane.livejournal.com]

When I was a young man, and very well thought of There was nought I could ask that the ladies denied. I nibbled their hearts like a handful of raisins, And I never spoke love, but I knew that I lied. But I said to myself, "Ah, there's none of them knows The secret I shelter, and savor, and save. I wait for the one who can see through my seeming And I'll know when I love by the way I behave". The years they passed over like clouds in the heavens, The ladies went by me like snow on the wind. I charmed and I cheated, deceived and dissembled And I sinned, and I sinned and I sinned and I sinned. But I said to myself,"Ah, there's none of them knows There's a part of me pure as the whisk of a wave. My love may be late, but she'll find I have been faithful And I'll know when I love by the way I behave". At last came a lady, both knowing and tender Who said "You are not at all what they take you to be". I betrayed her before she had quite finished speaking, And she swallowed cold poison, and jumped in the sea. And I say to myself, when there's time for a word, As I gracefully grow more debauched and depraved. "Ah, love may be strong, but a habit is stronger And I know how I loved by the way I behaved". – Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn