siren

On the girl's brown legs there were many small white scars. I was thinking, Do those scars cover the whole of you, like the stars and the moons on your dress? I thought that would be pretty too, and I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.

In a few breaths' time I will speak some sad words to you. But you must hear them the same way we have agreed to see scars now. Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, this storyteller is alive. The next thing you know, something fine will happen to her, something marvelous, and then she will turn around and smile.

-excerpted from Little Bee by Chris Cleave

i always say i prefer the tragically sad novels. when asked my favorite book i waffle between the books i recall shedding the most tears on. the stories of sadness draw me in and it is only there that i find escape and a calling stronger than that of the pen.

tonight after my shower i looked at my laptop and then at the book i'm absorbed completely into. ordinarily when given a quiet, awake, opportunity to write there is no hesitation. but the siren song is calling my name..

d: a choice so sweet for you
b: i have scars and sad stories of my own

g: i am alive