i loved the man who told me that. i had loved him for a long time, i hadn’t thought he’d even noticed me - ah life and it’s cruel habit of bad timing - and loved him for a long painful time after. i kept this close to my heart though.

for a long time i have lived according to a maxim i picked up from a new zealand poet: see what a little moonlight can do? what i gleaned was that there is *always* enough air, oxygen, to say what is beautiful, what is necessary. this extends as far as actions too of course. when i think of how i have treasured his compliment (at the time, said in an undertone, almost to himself), i think of how important it is to say what we think, how we feel, express how we care, appreciate, value…. there is always enough time for kind, true words.