Ron Rash

We had some good times at school. I didn't know how good those times was till I left, but I guess that's the way of it

A small profit it better than a big loss

Don't love anything that can be taken away.

She realized that being starved for words was the same as being starved for food, because both left a hollow place inside you, a place you needed filled to make it through another day. Rachel remembered how growing up she__ thought living on a farm with just a father was as lonely as you could be. (130)

We want what's in this world but we also want what ain't.

Nothing is but what is now

One thing's sure and nothing surer. The rich get richer and the poor get- children

Not for the first time, it occurred to me that sorrow could be purified into song the same way a piece of coal is purified into a diamond.

Maybe calling it being hitched ain__ the prettiest way to say you__e married, but it__ the truth to my mind and true in a good way, because you__e working together and depending on each other, and you__e sharing the load.

What about you, Snipes?" Dunbar asked. "You think there to be mountain lions up here or is it just folks' imaginings?"Snipes pondered the question a few moments before speaking.They's many a man of science would claim there aint because you got no irredeemable evidence like panther scat or fur or tooth or tail. In other words, some part of the animal in questions. Or better yet having the actual critter itself, the whole think kit and caboodle head to tail, which all your men of science argue is the best proof of all a thing exists, whether it be a panther, or a bird, or even a dinosaur."To put it another way, if you was to stub your toe and tell the man of science what happened he'd not believe a word of it less he could see how it'd stoved up or was bleeding. But your philosophers and theologians and such say there__ things in the world that__ every bit as real even though you can__ see them.__ike what?_ Dunbar asked.Well,_ Snipes said. __hey__ love, that__ one. And courage. You can__ see neither of them, but they__e real. And air, of course. That__ one of your most important examples. You wouldn__ be alive a minute if there wasn__ air, but nobody__ ever seen a single speck of it.__ __ll I__ saying is there is a lot more to this old world than meets the eye.__ __nd darkness. You can__ see it no more than you can see air, but when its all around you sure enough know it._ (Serena, 65-66)

What made losing someone you loved bearable was not remembering but forgetting. Forgetting small things first... it's amazing how much you could forget, and everything you forgot made that person less alive inside you until you could finally endure it. After more time passed you could let yourself remember, even want to remember. But even then what you felt those first days could return and remind you the grief was still there, like old barbed wire embedded in a tree's heartwood.

It__ ever been the way of the man of science or philosophy. Most folks stay in the dark and then complain they can__ see nothing._ _ Snipes (185)

She walks in beauty.

It's a hard place this world can be. No wonder a baby cries coming in to it. Tears from the start

A place where something so terrible had happened shouldn't continue to exist in the world

Having shot down a number, some of which were anly wounded, the whole flock swept repeatedly around their prostrate companions, and again settled on a low tree, within twenty yards of the spot where I stood. At each successive discharge, though showers of them fell, yet the affection of the survivors seemed rather to increase; for after a few circuits around the place, they again alighted near me.

Then one morning she__ begun to feel her sorrow easing, like something jagged that had cut into her so long it had finally dulled its edges, worn itself down. That same day Rachel couldn__ remember which side her father had parted his hair on, and she__ realized again what she__ learned at five when her mother left _ that what made losing someone you loved bearable was not remembering but forgetting. Forgetting the small things first, the smell of the soap her mother had bathed with, the color of the dress she__ worn to church, then after a while the sound of her mother__ voice, the color of her hair. It amazed Rachel how much you could forget, and everything you forgot made that person less alive inside you until you could finally endure it. After more time passed you could let yourself remember, even want to remember. But even then what you felt those first days could return and remind you the grief that was still there, like old barbed wire embedded in a tree__ heartwood. (51)

Dead and still in the world was worse than dead and in the ground. Dead in the ground at least gave you the hope of heaven.