A woman had an abortion in her youth and, later on, worried continually about whether she’d done the right thing.
“Of course you have,” her friend told her, “You have to have done the right thing. Otherwise you’d go mad.”
This seemed to be her allegory for the way history is written.

the road to success is narrow and dark, and leads forever down.

crawling back up the other way on the warm loam to the yellow mouth of sunlight you emerge through the nettles and squint, a little breathless, happy, warm.

a couple of weeks ago, or so:

After reading the pages concerning the WTO protest and the kitten someone burned alive at a train station, she assumes the emergency brace position with long soughing indrawn breaths, heaving gasps.