Reece Mathews

“Instead, in the morning, mangled and sleeping
the sleep of the sword, they slopped and floated
like the ocean's leavings.”
― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf

“Time and again, when the goblets passed
and seasoned fighters got flushed with beer
they would pledge themselves to protect Heorot and wait for Grendel with whetted swords.

But when dawn broke and day crept in
over each empty, blood-spattered bench,
the floor of the mead-hall where they had feasted
would be slick with slaughter. And so they died,
faithful retainers, and my following dwindled.”
― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf

“And on that evening when we grow older still we'll speak about these two young men as though they were two strangers we met on the train and whom we admire and want to help along. And we'll want to call it envy, because to call it regret would break our hearts.”
― André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name

“What, exactly, happens to a Communist after he or she dies?”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind