“She saw the birth unfolding, saw the small creature with those strangely wise eyes that seemed to belong to every newborn. And then the years rushing on, the child growing, faces taking the shape they would carry into old age. But not all. As mother after mother stepped through her, futures flashed bright, and some died quickly indeed. Fraught, flickering sparks, ebbing, winking out, darkness rushing in. And at these she cried out, filled with anguish even as she understood that souls travelled countless journeys, of which only one could be known by a mortal, so many, in countless perturbations, and that the loss belonged only to others, never to the child itself, for in its inarticulate, ineffable wisdom, understanding was absolute; the passage of life that seemed tragically short could well be the perfect duration, the experience complete. Others, however, died in violence, and this was a crime, an outrage against life itself. Here, among these souls, there was fury, shock, denial. There was railing, struggling, bitter defiance.”
Quote by Steven Erikson
Book:Toll the Hounds
Work
Toll the Hounds
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: Small World
Source: The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year
Source: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
Source: Pack Up the Moon
Source: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“I am afraid of tomorrow, and all the tomorrows after...”
Source: Notes on Grief
“Grief returns with the revolving year. - Adonais”
Source: Percy Bysshe Shelley: An Anthology
“I was furious. It was as if staying alive just gave everyone else time to leave you.”
Source: Freshwater
Source: The Year of Magical Thinking
