THE WORLD OCCURRED

Cold, I was, like snow, like ivory. I thought He will not touch me, but he did.

“Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.”

I am coloured glass from a church window long since shattered. I find pieces of myself everywhere, and I cut myself handling them.

‘I exist.’ In thousands of agonies — I exist. I’m tormented on the rack — but I exist! Though I sit alone in a pillar — I exist! I see the sun, and if I don’t see the sun, I know it’s there. And there’s a whole life in that, in knowing that the sun is there.