Claire Watson

“Some lives are all too brief, while others are a continual struggle. I couldn’t help thinking that it was a brutal assessment of people’s lives to employ usefulness to society as a yardstick by which to measure their value.”
― Durian Sukegawa, Sweet Bean Paste

“The flowers that bloom in spring, the willows, the raindrops and snowflakes became shrines. The mornings ushering in each day, the evenings that daily darken, became shrines.”
― Han Kang, Human Acts

“even a person raised in captivity learns to want, yearns to see beyond their cage. How much of our humanity is intrinsic? How much remains, when all else is stripped away?”
― Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Have Never Known Men

“After you died I could not hold a funeral
And so my life became a funeral.

Oh, return to me.
Oh, return to me when I call your name.
Do not delay any longer. Return to me now.

After you died I couldn't hold a funeral,
So these eyes that once beheld you became a shrine.
These ears that once heard your voice became a shrine.
These lungs that once inhaled your breath became a shrine.

The flowers that bloom in spring, the willows, the raindrops and snowflakes became shrines.


The morning ushering in each day, the evenings that daily darken, became shrines.

After you died I couldn't hold a funeral, so my life became a funeral.
After you were wrapped in a tarpaulin and carted away in a garbage truck,
After sparkling jets of water sprayed unforgivably from the fountain.
Everywhere the lights of the temple shrines are burning.
In the flowers that bloom in spring, in the snowflakes. In the evenings that draw each day to a close. Sparks from the candles, burning in empty drinks bottles.”
― Han Kang, Human Acts