I thought I was going to die. I wanted to die. And I thought if I was going to die I would die with you. Someone like you, young as I am, I saw so many dying near me in the last year. I didn’t feel scared. Icertainly wasn’t brave just now. I thought to myself, We have this villa this grass, we should have laindown together, you in my arms, before we died. I wanted to touch that bone at your neck, collarbone, it’s like a small hard wing under your skin. I wanted to place my fingers against it. I’ve always liked fleshthe colour of rivers and rocks or like the brown eye of a Susan, do you know what that flower is? Haveyou seen them? I am so tired, Kip, I want to sleep. I want to sleep under this tree, put my eye againstyour collarbone I just want to close my eyes without thinking of others, want to find the crook of a treeand climb into it and sleep. What a careful mind! To know which wire to cut. How did you know? Youkept saying I don’t know I don’t know, but you did. Right? Don’t shake, you have to be a still bed forme, let me curl up as if you were a good grandfather I could hug, I love the word ‘curl, ’ such a slowword, you can’t rush it.. Michael Ondaatje
About This Quote

This is a poem written by the poet, Pablo Neruda. The poem is about a young boy who has just met his lover and they make love in a field of green grass under a tree. The boy thinks about the possibility of dying and his lover, and what he’ll do if they do die. Then he tells his lover not to be afraid because they will live on together in his mind.

This poem is very important to me because it helped me stay alive and fight for my life. It is like my life was cut short and I had to go through hell and back and I had to endure all of that suffering but still be able to look back and remember how I was able to conquer all of that suffering and come out on top. I realized that there were so many people who wanted me dead and I still managed to survive so they must have underestimated me or didn’t realize how strong my mind was which made me stronger than them!

Source: The English Patient

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