You can't tell when strange things with meaningwill happen. I'm [still] here writing it downjust the way it was. "You don't have toprove anything," my mother said. "Just be readyfor what God sends."

If you have things right in your lifebut do not know why,you are just lucky, and you will not movein the little ways that encourage good fortune.

Will you ever bring a better gift for the worldthan the breathing respect that you carrywherever you go right now?

A great snug wall goes around everything,has always been there, will alwaysremain. It is a good world to belost in. It comforts you. It isall right. And you sleep.

Some writers say they find the writing process lonely. I don't. Yes, it's solitary but when you can escape into a world of your own making in the company of potentially great characters, you're not aware you're alone.

. . . You were aimed from birth:you will never be alone. Rainwill come, a gutter filled, an Amazon,long aisles -- you never heard so deep a sound,moss on rock, and years. You turn your head --that's what the silence meant: you're not alone. The whole wide world pours down.