Melissa

“My whole life was measured in summers. Like I don’t really begin living until June, until I’m at that beach, in that house.”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“Narcissus, gazing at his image in the pool, wept. A friend passing by saw him and asked, “Narcissus, why do you weep?” “Because my face has changed,” Narcissus said. “Do you cry because you grow older?” “No. I see that I am no longer innocent. I have been gazing at myself long and long, and so doing have worn out my innocence.”
― Peter Straub, Ghost Story

“Nothing retains its form; new shapes from old
Nature, the great inventor, ceaselessly
Contrives. In all creation, be assured,
There is no death - no death, but only change
And innovation; what we men call birth
Is but a different new beginning; death
Is but to cease to be the same. Perhaps
This may have moved to that and that to this,
Yet still the sum of things remains the same.
Nothing can last, I do believe, for long
In the same image.”
― Ovid

“And without fame, a man must spend his life
Only to leave such traces upon earth
As smoke leaves in the air, or foam in the sea”
― Dante Alighieri