LAIBA

“She's an old soul with young eyes, a vintage heart, and a beautiful mind.”
― Nicole Lyons

“[On the cities of Venice and Varanasi]

Everywhere you look there is evidence of the enchantment of decay, of a kind of beauty that can only be revealed by a long, slow fading.”
― Amitav Ghosh, Gun Island

“These flowers are starwort," she said. "Starwort means 'welcome.' By giving you a bouquet of starwort, I'm welcoming you to my home, to my life." She twirled buttery pasta on her fork and looked into my eyes without a glimmer of humor.
"They look like daisies to me," I said. "And I still think they're poisonous."
"They aren't poisonous, and they aren't daisies. See how they only have five petals but it looks like they have ten? Each pair of petals is connected in the center." Picking up the small bouquet of flowers, I examined the little white bundle. The petals grew together before attaching to the stem, so that each petal was the shape of a heart.
"That's a characteristic of the genus 'Stellaria,'" Elizabeth went on, when she could see that I understood. "Daisy is a common name, and spans many different families, but the flowers we call daisies typically have more petals, and each petal grows separate from the others. It's important to know the difference or you may confuse the meaning. Daisy means 'innocence', which is a very different sentiment than 'welcome.”
― Vanessa Diffenbaugh, The Language of Flowers

“Oh to be standing next to a stranger, staring at the same painting in an art museum, an unspoken romance between us.”
― tearinthestars