lara

“Listen up, pal, the moon is way up in the sky. Aren’t you scared? The helplessness that comes from nature. That moonlight, think about it, that moonlight, paler than a corpse’s face, so silent and far away, that moonlight witnessed the cries of the first monsters to walk the earth, surveyed the peaceful waters after the deluges and the floods, illuminated centuries of nights and went out at dawns throughout centuries . . . Think about it, my friend, that moonlight will be the same tranquil ghost when the last traces of your great-grandsons’ grandsons no longer exist. Prostrate yourself before it. You’ve shown up for an instant and it is forever. Don’t you suffer, pal? I . . . I myself can’t stand it. It hits me right here, in the center of my heart, having to die one day and, thousands of centuries later, undistinguished in humus, eyeless for all eternity, I, I!, for all eternity . . . and the indifferent, triumphant moon, its pale hands outstretched over new men, new things, different beings. And I Dead! Think about it, my friend. It’s shining over the cemetery right now. The cemetery, where all lie sleeping who once were and never more shall be. There, where the slightest whisper makes the living shudder in terror and where the tranquility of the stars muffles our cries and brings terror to our eyes. There, where there are neither tears nor thoughts to express the profound misery of coming to an end.”
― Clarice Lispector, The Complete Stories

“لا تطلبي حرية أيتها الرعيه
لا تطلبي حرية..
بل مارسي الحرية
إن رضى الراعي... فألف مرحبا
و إن أبى
فحاولي إقناعه باللطف والرويه..
قولى له أن يشرب البحر
وأن يبلع نصف الكرة الأرضية!
ما كانت الحرية اختراعه
أو إرث من خلفه
لكي يضمها إلى أملاكه الشخصية
إن شاء أن يمنعها عنك
زواها جانبا
أو شاء أن يمنحها.. قدمها هديه
قولي له: إني ولدت حُرة
قولى له: إني أنا الحرية
إن لم يصدقك فهاتي شاهدا
و ينبغي في هذه القضية
أن تجعلي الشاهد... بندقيه!”
― أحمد مطر, لافتات - المجموعة الكاملة

“Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from their selves.” (p.97)”
― Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

“Most women fight wars on two fronts, one for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak, to have ideas, to be acknowledged to be in possession of facts and truths, to have value, to be a human being.”
― Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me