Bethany Kohler

“To wake from slumber with a consciousness of well-being is to welcome joy that is knocking at your door. To be possessed of hope is to summon joy that never knocked, and is perhaps the deeper joy for not being dependent on any feeling or circumstance.”
― Bethany Kohler, Trompe l'Oeil: Beauty and the Beast Retold

“Take heed, my sweet,
For you shall rue
The day you found
In me a foe;

And what, you ask,
Is my revenge?
You will not understand,
But I will tell:

To think you know
When you know not;
To think you see
When you are blind;

No might can break,
No wit cast off,
This curse with which
I bind thee;

Your cunning plans,
Your strength of will,
Alike shall fail
To free thee.

It can be broken, yes;
The way of that is hid;
You never shall break free,
As none before you did.

A lowly thing,
A gentle thing,
May break the spell at last;

But hope is vain
That wastes itself
On such a hopeless task.”
― Bethany Kohler, Trompe l'Oeil: Beauty and the Beast Retold