“This future life is unknown to you. Now at this moment you look up at your unmoving, silent waiting audience. You half-raise your left arm and reach for the cup of water, half-noting the red and yellow glaze of the ceramic cup. You glance once more at the vellum sheet in front of you, idly record the date at the foot of the formal document. And another unbidden thought strikes you then, as if an unseen silver silent arrow has pierced deep into your heart. On this day next month, she who has devoured your stricken heart, she whom your mind beholds in glory, shall have been gone from the sorrows and sad joys of this unredeemable world for ten full years.”

From  ‘Across the Stone Bridge’ – included in the showcase