Emery

“He went back to his first morning in Oxford: climbing a sunny hill with Ramy, picnic basket in hand. Elderflower cordial. Warm brioche, sharp cheese, a chocolate tart for dessert. The air that day smelled like a promise, all of Oxford shone like an illumination, and he was falling in love.

'It's so odd,' Robin said. Back then they'd already passed the point of honesty; they spoke to one another unfiltered, unafraid of the consequences. 'It's like I've known you forever.'

'Me too,' Ramy said.

'And that makes no sense,' said Robin, drunk already, though there was no alcohol in the cordial. 'Because I've known you for less than a day, and yet...'

'I think,' said Ramy, 'it's because when I speak, you listen.'

'Because you are fascinating.'

'Because you're a good translator.' Ramy leaned back on his elbows. 'That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“Sometimes, if you want to be compassionate towards others, you have to be kind to yourself first. If you obsess too much over the restrictions you’ve placed on yourself, you’ll lose sight of you what you really want . Instead, liberate yourself . Embrace who you really are. - Cronus”
― Mai Mochizuki, The Full Moon Coffee Shop

“someone will remember us
I say
even in another time”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“So, here you are
too foreign for home
too foreign for here.
Never enough for both.”
― Ijeoma Umebinyuo, Questions for Ada