“I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”
―
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”
―
“Again and again, however we know the landscape of love
and the little churchyard there, with its sorrowing names,
and the frighteningly silent abyss into which the others
fall: again and again the two of us walk out together
under the ancient trees, lie down again and again
among the flowers, face to face with the sky.”
― Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose
and the little churchyard there, with its sorrowing names,
and the frighteningly silent abyss into which the others
fall: again and again the two of us walk out together
under the ancient trees, lie down again and again
among the flowers, face to face with the sky.”
― Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose
“The CID official said to the Russians, “I didn’t know contractors worked on weekends. Why are you two here today?”
― Counter Identity
― Counter Identity
“He desperately tried to think of a story to explain his involvement in her sudden appearance, without mentioning the book of magic in his possession.
”
― The Three Witches and the Master
”
― The Three Witches and the Master
“The point is to be compassionately, not cruelly, honest. Tell the person what you have heard that worries you. Allow him to respond. You may be surprised at how much sense his answers make.”
― The Cult around the Corner: A Handbook on Dealing with Other People's Religions
― The Cult around the Corner: A Handbook on Dealing with Other People's Religions
Arthur’s 2025 Year in Books
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