Iris Steinen

“A lifetime, one might say, of loss, but we here recognize something much different, more nuanced, more full of shadows. A lifetime of hope. And anyone who's done both - hoped and lost - knows that in many ways, hoping is worse....As I grew into early adulthood and observed a larger pattern of hope and loss and hope and loss and hope and loss, and the concurrent resilience thereof, I came to a begrudging conclusion: neither of these things - hope and loss - can exist without the other, and yet at every turn it is necessary to believe that at some point one will ultimately conquer. And that will be our legacy.”
― David Giffels, The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt

“We sit and talk,
quietly, with long lapses of silence
and I am aware of the stream
that has no language, coursing
beneath the quiet heaven of
your eyes
which has no speech”
― William Carlos Williams, Paterson

“Be proud of every scar on your heart, each one holds a lifetime’s worth of lessons.”
― Wallace Stegner

“It's a strange courage
you give me ancient star:
Shine alone in the sunrise
toward which you lend no part!”
― William Carlos Williams