..a gibbous harvest moon...

It is strange when two people fancy one another, when liking turns into reciprocated desire: it is tangible. You can see and feel it as a physical force, a kind of gravity. Even when they were talking, on opposite sides of the table, not touching, their arms were reaching towards each other. When they spoke, their lips were on the brink of touching, just through the words they used. I looked on. I didn't mind.

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi

Geoff Dyer





....Why leave home, friends, family, the familiar environment and lifestyle that brought you up, that your education prepared you for, and take off to live in an alien country and culture?....
...people say: 'How brave you are.'
The implication is that it takes a special kind of courage to make a life here...
...'You're the brave ones,' I should be saying. 'You had the guts to stay at home, to make a life and something out of it. That takes far more courage in my opinion, to have to find a job, pay for a house, a mortage and expensive school fees, save for retirement, look after your ageing parents, deal with your awkward relatives, vote for a government, buy a car, life insurance, a lawnmowever. You are far braver than I am. I'm escaping all that, dodging my responsibilities, fleeing a life that I thought I couldn't cope with. In actual fact, I am a coward. That's why I am in China.'

China Cuckoo

Mark Kitto





One day a young man stood in the middle of town and explained that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was so perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man stood in front of the crowd and said: "Why? Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the heart of the old man. It was beating strongly, but it was full of scars, it had spots where pieces had been removed and replaced by others. But they did not fit properly, and there were several jagged edges .... Strictly speaking, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people stared at him.. how could he claim his heart was more beautiful, they thought...The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed: "You must be joking," he said, "Compare your heart with mine. Mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.""Yes," said the old man, Yours is perfect, but I would never trade with you. Each scar represents a person to whom I have given my love. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart. But because the pieces are not exact, I have some rough edges that I cherish, because they remind me of the love that we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and did not get a piece in return. These are the empty gouges. Giving love is sometimes entering into a risk. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people ... and I hope that someday they may return and fill these spaces. Now cand you see what true beauty is? "The young man stood silently with tears streaming down his cheeks.
He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart. He then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it into the wound in the young man's heart. It did not fit perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever before, because he felt the love of the old man flowing in his heart. They embraced each other and walked away side by side.