The grass he walked through was new and a sweet smell clung to his clothes. There was blue dye on his hands from the wild irises... that the color of the sky was a shade that could never be replicated in any photograph, just as Heaven could never be seen from the confines of Earth.

I heard a sigh, as though the books were breathing. I felt that this was where I belonged. This was where I lived.

He stepped off the pavement like a man jumping off a bridge, as calm as a swimmer with an ocean out below. Lucy had known what he was going to do the instant their eyes met. She'd know what he intended because she would have done the very same thing if she'd had his courage. Nothing was going to break his fall.

You can be betrayed in your sleep. The whole world can tilt while you're dreaming of butterflies.

The moon is always jealous of the heat of the day, just as the sun always longs for something dark and deep.

There was the blue sky above her and all those many roses, the ones that gave off the scent of cloves in the rain and the ones that left a trace of lemon on your fingers, the ones that were the color of blood, and those that were as white as clouds. Each one was sweeter than the next and as red as gemstones.

We stood and watched as God abandoned us, and then we did the best we could.