Individualism is the first to disappear.

a girl’s arranged marriage to shame

Could you become used to the shock of water?

Our fathers also have a saying about the danger of living apart. They say it is the curse of the snake. If all snakes lived together in one place, who would approach them? But they live every one unto himself and so fall easy prey to man.

I think I already died before you got here, but woke up when I heard your voice

and I loved you so much I let you pretend

I am still ugly, and he is still god

“Me,” she murmured. And then, sinking deeper into the quilts, “I want…I want to be…wonderful. Oh, Jesus, make me wonderful.”