[luzmiere]

to my mother,

who, because she loved me so much,

gave me the confidence to live,

gave me the security to express myself.

i was not afraid of being ridiculous,

i am not afraid to die.

because i was loved.

Henfil, "Cartas da Mãe".

[luzmiere]

i want to go home. a phrase that’s stuck on a loop — and yet my desire is not attached to a particular place. i want to go home but what i mean, what i’m grasping for, is not a place. it’s a feeling. i want to go back. but back where?

Julie Buntin, "Marlena".

[luzmiere]

[text id: i am seeking, i am striving, i am in it with all my heart. – Vincent van Gogh

my darling, my dying, my light, my sight, my night, my whole day long. – Velimir Khlebnikov

i miss you deeply, unfathomably, senselessly, terribly. – Franz Kafka, "Letters to Milena".

i think i’d miss you even if we’d never met. – "The Wedding Date" (2005).]

[luzmiere]

i was alone for a whole sunday.

i didn’t call anyone and no one called me. i was completely alone. i sat on my sofa with my mind free. but as the day went on toward bedtime i experienced about three times a sudden recognition of myself and of the world that spooked me and made me plunge into obscure depths which i departed for golden light. it was the encounter of the i with the i.

solitude is a luxury.

Clarice Lispector, "A Breath of Life".

[luzmiere]

and after a while:

“it’s a strange grief.”

softly.

“to die of nostalgia for something you will never live.”

Alessandro Baricco, "Silk".

[luzmiere]

my fist has always been clenched around the handle of an invisible suitcase.

i am always ready to leave.

there is not a single room in this world where i belong.

fatima aamer bilal

[luzmiere]

love is patient, love is kind.

it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

[luzmiere]

fortunately there is always another day. and other dreams. and other laughter. and other people. and other things.

Clarice Lispector

[luzmiere]

[text id: there will always be a person who looks like a poem the earth wrote to keep you alive. – Juansen Dizon

you are exactly the poem i wanted to write. or maybe the poem the earth wrote to keep me alive. – Unknown]

[luzmiere]

tell me how many pieces you were broken into;

i want to know how many versions of you i will have to love.

Fernando Machado, "The Epitaph of Our Love".

[luzmiere]

you are the altar cup and from this

i do fill my mouth. /

martyr, my religion is love,

is you.

Anne Sexton, "Sweeney".

[luzmiere]

and in the silence i suddenly understood the many ways a person can die but still be alive.

Carmen Rodrigues, "34 Pieces of You".

[luzmiere]

sunday. slept, awoke, slept, awoke, miserable life.

Franz Kafka, "The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-13".

[luzmiere]

i want desperately to be liked. i put new people on a pedestal, worshipping them for their surprising kindness to me, for their benevolent notice. how many silver-plated statues have i erected, only to humanize them as i grew to know their vulnerable frailties.

Sylvia Plath, "The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath".

[luzmiere]

find me where the crowd is less, the sky is blue, and the wind is free. find me in the midst of the forgotten; the abandoned. to the one who seeks my presence, find me in the company of the unseen.

Abdulsamad S. M., "being human".

[luzmiere]

humans are obsessed with escapism — through movies, books, music, art, daydreams. our souls really weren’t made for this world.

Unknown

[luzmiere]

death cannot harm me

more than you have harmed me,

my beloved life.

Louise Glück, "Averno".