There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in it’s life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest, it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above it’s own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But, the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain… Or so says the legend.
Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds
I don’t know why but I don’t think I’ll ever forget this.
I’ve been collecting these phrases for a while. Now, I’m finally posting them!
In absentia lucis, tenebrae vincunt | In the absence of light, darkness prevails
Dulce periculum | Danger is sweet
Non ducor duco | I am not lead; I lead
Cogito ergo sum | I think, therefore I am
Lux brumalis | The light of winter
Alis propriis volat | She flies with her own wings
Bibere venenum in auro | To drink poison from a golden cup
Est quaedam flere voluptas | There is a certain pleasure in weeping
Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet | Loyal she began, thus she remains
Si vis pacem, para bellum | If you want peace, prepare for war
Luceat lux vestra | Let your light shine
Vidi Vidi Amavi | I came, I saw, I loved | Julius Caesar
Astra inclinant, sed non obligant | The stars incline us, they do not bind us.
Sic semper tyrannis | Thus always to tyrants | Marcus Junius Brutus
Aeternum vale | Farewell forever
Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent | Slight griefs talk, great ones are speechless.
Fortuna vitrea est; tum cum splendet frangitur | Fortune is glass; just when it gleams brightest it shatters | Publilius Syrus
Hinc illae lacrimae | Hence these tears | Terence
this post is life
“I met a sailor on a ship with promise in his eyes. He kissed me on the mouth and dug his fingers in my thighs. But a sailor ain’t a savior ‘cause they only tell you lies. So I left him there ‘til the sunrise. Well, the waves were tall and they were crashing down. He’s laying in the water, begging God to let him drown. So I showed him all my teeth and then I laughed out loud 'cause I never wanted saving, I just wanted to be found. There is a lighthouse in the middle of the deep. And I’m still stranded on the shoreline there. And nobody hears me scream. And I’ll lure you like a landslide. And I’ll show you lovely things if you rescue me, but they’re make-believe. The lighthouse by the sea.”
— The Lighthouse by Halsey
Lord Byron — To the Countess of Blessington
Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red.
Kait Rokowski
changed lives
Halsey to matty
He doesn't like to cuddle. He likes to grip my hips and pull the fibers of pink tissue in shreds from my lip with his teeth. He throws his hands in the air like a messiah and leans his head out the open window. easy. breathe. codeine. breeze. We laugh loudly and kiss loudly and moan loudly. He mouths vulgar things that make me giggle in front of our friends. I run my hand along the seam off his tight black jeans beneath the table top. He rolls his eyes and smirks at me. We take every opportunity to touch, to feel, so secretly. So public. Exhibitionist pleasure. We play like children, tousling my hair and I climb on his back. We roll spliff after spliff and talk rapidly and vigorously and trip over each others sentences like a sidewalk crack. He says "us" like it means "amen" and his eyes burn wild with a fire of passion. We get drunk. Off of wine and skin and things we love. His smile erupts across his face like it could shatter his cheekbones. His eyes glimmer like a lake catching the glare of the moonlight. A glint of silver is growing up the side of his hairline. He thinks it makes him look distinguished. I laugh and agree. He loves to be so much older than me. He thinks it makes him wise. We spend a lot of time in hotel rooms with the doors shut. (We spend a lot of time outside of hotel rooms with our mouths shut.) He thinks the Xanax makes the sex last longer and I don't argue. I always wake up first. I sit at the desk and work quietly and glance at him in the sheets. Vulnerable and quiet. Soft face. Soft sounds. A warm cup of coffee and marmalade light through the windows. We bond over love for our brothers. We fight over where the chord change should go. We tease, oh we tease. He likes clean socks and messy hair and he runs his fingers down my overall straps with a tigers grin. He writes his name in the fog on the mirror from where he grabbed a fistful of my hair and pressed my face against the glass. He loves soul music. We sing confidently and triumphantly. I tap my fingers like spiders legs across his bare chest and undo his buttons one by one. I toss my head back and laugh maniacally and pout my lips when he won't be fair. He speaks like a pastor and trips over his words, his tongue struggles to meet his brain. That's how a prodigy thinks. (Or it's the drugs). He knows when my words are about him and he lets it all go to his head and I don't care because I love to watch him love himself. We laugh and fuck and play and write and plot and say goodbye and never worry. He is my occasional constant. A parody of himself. A paradox of ever present and transparent. I don't care what he is. I just care THAT he is. (via seenteenblack)
Anaïs Nin, Fire: From “A Journal of Love”: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934–1937
Preach
the absolute power in “you’re killing people” “no, I’m killing boys” cannot be outdone
“Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.”
— Fyodor Dosteovsky, Crime and Punishment (source)