gorgeous writings.

Truth disappears with history and gossip tells us in the end nothing of personal relationships. There are stories of elopements, unrequited love, family feuds, and exhausting vendettas, which everyone was drawn into, had to be involved with. But nothing I said of the closeness between two people: how they grew in the shade of each other’s presence. No one speaks of that exchange of gift and character – the way a person took on and recognized in himself the smile of a lover.

Michael Ondaatje, Running in the Family