Ahmed

“To exist is to drink oneself without thirst.”
― Annie Ernaux, Les Années

“225 days under grass
and you know more than I.
they have long taken your blood,
you are a dry stick in a basket.
is this how it works?
in this room
the hours of love
still make shadows.

when you left
you took almost
everything.
I kneel in the nights
before tigers
that will not let me be.

what you were
will not happen again.
the tigers have found me
and I do not care.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills

“The situation is reversed, now she is my little girl. I cannot be her mother.”
― Annie Ernaux, I Remain in Darkness

“To grow old is to fade, to become transparent.”
― Annie Ernaux, I Remain in Darkness