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Original poster

Lines in books that make your throat catch

647 replies

pongping · 25/08/2013 08:50

Just been re-reading When We Were Very Young, and the lines in the last poem, Vespers, bring a tear to my eye every time:

Hush, hush, whisper who dares,
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers

I'm not sure why - I think it's the beauty of the innocence, the image of a lost world (the book is all nurses and stockings)?

In fact, just the title of the collection gives me a shiver.

OP posts:
VerySmallSqueak · 28/08/2013 14:33

Oh,good grief - 'The Road'.

The whole thing just leaves you feeling utterly desolate,but somehow you have to keep reading,desperate for a glimmer of hope...

Waswondering · 28/08/2013 14:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

livinginwonderland · 28/08/2013 14:40

Some more I found on my GoodReads account. Sorry for spamming!

"There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts." - Neil Gaiman.

"Where'd the days go, when all we did was play? And the stress that we were under wasn't stress at all just a run and a jump into a harmless fall." - Paulo Nutini.

"More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to be close to someone.
More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to feel as if i wasn't alone." - James Frey.

?She's not here," I tell him. Buttercup hisses again. "She's not here. You can hiss all you like. You won't find Prim." At her name, he perks up. Raises his flattened ears. Begins to meow hopefully. "Get out!" He dodges the pillow I throw at him. "Go away! There's nothing left for you here!" I start to shake, furious with him. "She's not coming back! She's never ever coming back here again!" I grab another pillow and get to my feet to improve my aim. Out of nowhere, the tears begin to pour down my cheeks. "She's dead, you stupid cat. She's dead.? - Suzanne Collins.

DreamingofSummer · 28/08/2013 14:51

The first five lines of "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" by Dylan Thomas

And death shall have no dominion.

Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

mynameisnotmichaelcaine · 28/08/2013 14:52

Oh gosh yes to "And Death Shall Have No Dominion". Just the title sets me off. I also love his "Do not go Gentle into that Good Night".

xiaozhu · 28/08/2013 14:56

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

TartanRug · 28/08/2013 14:56

My mum loved words and writing little verses and stories. She wrote me a letter when she knew she had terminal cancer and had only a few weeks. It was given to me by my dad when she died. I've never shared it with anyone til now.

I love your eyes, your hair, your smile
That you still look 5 when you yawn even though you're 43.
I love that you still cuddle me like I am your mum and not some silly old woman taking up your time.
I love how we laugh.
I love how we chat.
I cannot bear to leave you my darling girl but I will be waiting to welcome you when the time comes.
I will pray it will not be for a long, long time.
Go on with your life, your loves, your passions.
And remember that you have always made my heart sing.

xiaozhu · 28/08/2013 14:57

Oh, and:

Time has transfigures them into
Untruth. The stone fidelity
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.

xiaozhu · 28/08/2013 14:58

And always that one they read at funerals, 'Do not stand by my grave and weep, I did not die, I do not sleep' etc. Gets me howling.

Goldenhandshake · 28/08/2013 15:03

Tartan that is truly beautiful, what a wonderful gift to leave you with

mignonette · 28/08/2013 15:04

I'm an Atheist yet the language in this moves me-

A Prayer of John Donne (1572-1631)

"Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end"

SoniaGluck · 28/08/2013 15:09

Just catching up with this thread (and quietly sobbing).

Tartan That is lovely.

HandMini · 28/08/2013 15:11

Miracles of Life by J G Ballard - describing his days (as a single parent following his wifes death) looking after his children: "days of wonder that I wish had lasted forever. I thought of my children then and still think of them, as miracles of life..."

mumof2teenboys · 28/08/2013 15:15

Tartan

That has just made me properly cry for the first time since reading this thread.

What a wonderful gift to hold onto.

mumof2teenboys · 28/08/2013 15:20

I have never shared this with anyone on here, but when my son killed himself last year he left us a journal which he had been keeping for years.

His final entry talked about why he was doing what he did. The very last thing he ever wrote was:

'for what it's worth, I am sorry'

Those seven words stop my breath everytime I think of them.

Calabria · 28/08/2013 15:22

I should never have started reading this thread - crying too hard to see now...

Calabria · 28/08/2013 15:24

mumof2teenboys I have no words except I am so sorry for your loss.

DreamingofSummer · 28/08/2013 15:27

mumof2teenboys

I am so sorry for your loss. Seven simple words holding so much.

My prayers for you and your family

Gingerstrumpet · 28/08/2013 15:29

Oh my word, Tartan and mumof2teenboys I really am lost for words at your posts.

I am so sorry for everyone on the thread's losses. Truly.

JustBecauseICan · 28/08/2013 15:30

This is a wonderful thread, (am quietly sobbing in my office) heart wrenching and so uplifting at the same time. Smile

Tartan and mumof2teenboys. Flowers

Can this be moved to classics do you think? I would love to copy so many of these into an Everything Book I am compiling for dd.

Gingerstrumpet · 28/08/2013 15:31

Duck, Death and the Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch is a German picture book that helps me deal with loss.

I bought it for my boys when their Grandad died. It's quite beautiful and very unusual.

I recommend it.

TartanRug · 28/08/2013 15:32

I was so lucky to have my mum. There are her tear stains on the paper and I hate that it must have broken her heart to write it.

mumof2boys I'm so so sorry.

janetaylia · 28/08/2013 15:38

a poem by Adrian Michell, called 'Beatrix is Three'

At the top of the stairs
I ask for her hand. O.K.
She gives it to me.
How her fist fits my palm,
A bunch of consolation.
We take our time
Down the steep carpetway
As I wish silently
That the stairs were endless.

i heard this on R4 while driving with DD when she was very small and had to pull over and sob. I have it printed and framed now - it just seems to perfectly capture the joy and sadness inherent in being a parent.

mumof2teenboys · 28/08/2013 15:39

Tartan

I hold his journal and it has coffee cup rings on it and the pages are slightly crumpled. It is the last thing that he ever held. It is so precious because of that.

I hate thinking about how he was feeling when he wrote it, that is more painful than the words iyswim.

I never thought that written words could hurt so much. Just thinking of them is painful, its really is something that makesme hold my breath, my chest hurts when I read it.

SaskiaRembrandtVampireHunter · 28/08/2013 15:43

mumof2teenboys I'm so sorry

"And when Roger died in Northern Lights. That, for me, moved the book up a notch from just a children's book."

Same here, I found that very hard to read.

Also a line in Cujo when Stephen King writes from the dog's perspective. It's something like 'Cujo just wanted to be a good dog'.

And the bit in To Kill a Mockingbird, when Atticus tells Jem, "There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible."

I reread the book when DS1 was small, that bit really resonated.