The City and the Pillar

We affect one another quite enough merely by existing. Whenever the stars cross, or is it comets? fragments pass briefly from one orbit to another. On rare occasions there is total collision, but most often the two simply continue without incident, neither losing more than a particle to the other, in passing.

Ideally, of course, a relationship is best, but then how many people are capable of deep feeling? Practically none.

Americans tend to play different roles, hoping that somehow they’ll stumble on the right one.

Nothing that ever was changes. Yet nothing that is can ever be the same as what went before.

As the late afternoon sun shone in Shaw's face and a soft flower-scented wind cooled him, his unhappiness turned to a detachment that was not at all unpleasant. He was utterly alone in the world. This knowledge thrilled him.