The hospital room was as cold as dead skin, the hallway crowded with lost souls and reeking of illness.

He had been searching for it his entire life. He had devoted himself to poetry to find it. Now, in the middle of his life, he found it. It was in the face of the...

I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond; no more no less.

I profess myself an enemy to all other joys, which the most precious square of sense possesses, and find I am alone felicitate in your dear highness love.

I think Dad wanted to feel the pain, to feel his body cry, an urgent reminder that he was still alive. I pretended not to notice.