“There is this cave
In the air behind my body
That nobody is going to touch:
A cloister, a silence
Closing around a blossom of fire.
When I stand upright in the wind,
My bones turn to dark emeralds.”
 
― James Wright

“When pain brings you down, don't be silly, don't close your eyes and cry, you just might be in the best position to see the sun shine.” 

― Alanis Morissette

beginning tomorrow
everything will change
I will start dying assiduously
wisely optimistically
without wasting time

Tadeusz Rozewicz  (tr. Magnus J. Krynski & Robert A. Maguire)

What am I, that I should stand

so apart from my own happiness?

Carl Phillips, “Heaven and Earth,” in The Art of Daring.

Love is a fire
It burns everyone
It disfigures everyone
It is the world's excuse
for being ugly

Love Is A Fire
by Leonard Cohen

I empty myself of my life and my life remains.

Mark Strand

I believe everything
will be taken from us. Then given back
when it’s no longer what we want.

—	Dean Young, from “Frottage,” Strike Anywhere