How selfhood begins with a walking away, and love is proved in the letting go.

First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.

See this abdicated beast, once king
Of them all, nibble his claws:
Not anger enough left—no, nor despair—
To break his teeth on the bars.

We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.

We'd like to fight but we fear defeat, we'd like to work but we're feeling too weak, we'd like to be sick but we'd get the sack, we'd like to behave, we'd like to believe, we'd like to love, but we've lost the knack.

First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.