How can you smile as though your whole life hasn't capsized

Water is the exile, carried back in cans and flasks, the ghost between your hands and your mouth.

So many nurses had turned into emotionally disturbed handmaidens of the war, in their yellow-and-crimson uniforms with bone buttons.

Moments before sleep are when she feels most alive, leaping across fragments of the day, bringing each moment into the bed with her like a child with schoolbooks and pencils. The day seems to have no order until these times, which are like a ledger for her, her body full of stories and situations.

I'm a Canadian citizen. But I always want to feel at home in Sri Lanka. I'm a member of both countries.

...the heart is an organ of fire.

How can you smile as though your whole life hasn't capsized