A speck of ire can
blaze a fire; the fate of war can
be sealed with a dart,
a butterfly flapping its wings
may turn the tide miles apart!

Clarity of thought is a must for brevity in speech.

Just breathe," my mom would say, "Ten tiny breaths... Seize them. Feel them. Love them.

Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can't cry it away or eat it away or starve it away or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. It's just there, and you have to survive it. You have to endure it. You have to live through it and love it and move on and be better for it and run as far as you can in the direction of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by your own desire to heal.

When I'd originally loaded the car and held the door open for him, I'd had a passing impulse to pick him up bodily and insert him gently through the open window.

Tinys do not deserve safety. If they are to prove themselves, they must suffer and die or suffer and survive.