Tell freedom I said hello.

I had this feeling like the solution to everything would be down there if only I could dig through all those clouds.

Rhine. The river that, somewhere out there, has broken free.

We are stronger than we've credited ourselves to be. We have been the victims and the witnesses. We have said a lifetime of good-byes.

I've done it all before, I tell myself, and I can do it again. Trust is the strongest weapon.

They never exhale, the trees; on a very windy day, they rustle and inhale, and then the leaves and the branches all tremble as though something means to strangle the life from them. The sky watches on. The world is filled with anticipation, as if to wonder if this day will be a great day, or a horrible day, or the last day.

Do you know what my father used to say?" I ask her. "He used to say that songs had a heart. A crescendo that can make all your blood rush from your head to your toes.