Lines in books that make your throat catch

[pongping]

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.

Gosh I have had a good cry reading this. There are some truly strong MN'rs out there.

'He sat there in his new blue shirt, sipping at a diet coke. He spoke to nobody and nobody spoke to him'

that really rings bells with me; I've been to three social events recently where it has been like that.

Not a book again but the lyrics to 'morning town' catch my throat evey single time.

Train whistle blowing, makes a sleepy noise,
Underneath their blankets go all the girls and boys.
Heading from the station, out along the bay,
All bound for Morningtown, many miles away.

Sarah's at the engine, Tony rings the bell,
John swings the lantern to show that all is well.
Rocking, rolling, riding, out along the bay,
All bound for Morningtown, many miles away.

Maybe it is raining where our train will ride,
But all the little travelers are snug and warm inside.
Somewhere there is sunshine, somewhere there is day,
Somewhere there is Morningtown, many miles away.

My children always replace the names with their own and my fathers... it used to break my heart singing it when they really were miles away.

Tartan and mumof and everyone else with such sad stories. Thank you for sharing and I am so sorry for your losses.

If we are talking songs the saddest I have ever heard is by Hank Williams - Nobody's child. My mum used to sing it to me when I was little (not sure why!) He sings about passing an orphanage and stopping to talk to a little boy who is blind.

No mommy's arms to hold me or soothe me when I cry
Sometimes it gets so lonely here I wish that I could die

I'll walk the streets of heaven where all the blinds can see

And just like all the other kids there'd be a home for me

I'm nobody's child....2X
Just like a flower I'm growing wild
No mommy's kisses and no daddy's smiles

Nobody wants me, I'm nobody's child

CaptainWentworth

Susan Hill had the prayer of John Donne and the Ben Jonson poem I posted earlier upthread at the funeral of her too premature for this World Daughter, Imogen. I will look for the Harris setting.

Monroe That song was sung by DH's Father to him when he was little and he could never work out why! We had it at FIL's funeral last Easter and smiled through the tears at the incongruousness of the song at bedtime!

i love The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
It's in the Thelma and Louise soundtrack.

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this but one that got me was Roald Dahl's The Witches. The bit where his Granny tells him that as a mouse he will only live for a few years. He is pleased as he doesn't want to live without her. He wants them to grow old and die together. The end of the chapter is when the grandmother asks him if he is sure he doesn't mind being a mouse and he says
" I don't mind at all" I said"it doesn't matter who you are and what you look like so long as somebody loves you.". The whole chapter has me in pieces.

From The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time:

?And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery?and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.?

From Pigeon English:
"I just wanted too remember, if I could remember it would be alright. Agnes's tiny fat fingers and face. I couldn't see it any more. All babies look the same."

I stupidly finished Pigeon English at my desk at work, and surprised everyone by bursting into tears at those last lines.

I forgot this one from Watership Down. I cry just thinking about it.

?Black Rabbit: Hazel... Hazel... you know me, don't you?
Hazel: I don't know.
[the apparition reveals himself to be the Black Rabbit, and Hazel gasps]
Hazel: Yes, my lord. I know you.
Black Rabbit: I've come to ask if you'd like to join my Owsla. We shall be glad to have you, and I know you'd like it. You've been feeling tired, haven't you? If you're ready, we might go along now.
[Hazel looks at all the younger rabbits of Watership Down]
Black Rabbit: You needn't worry about them. They'll be all right, and thousands like them. If you come along now, I'll show you what I mean.?

Jesus, too much after day from hell, can't even get past MisMarplesBloomers Pooh Bear quote on page 1!

Oh my god, this thread has turned me into a robbing wreck!

The Rainbow Bridge poem always gets me. Especially this bit:

?...but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted.'

*sobbing :-)

The 'Daddy, my Daddy' line in the Railway Children used to leave me wrecked for days when I was a girl. My Daddy had left just before I saw the film for the first time. That line expressed everything I felt but couldn't say. I was six

Fillyjonk75

• The Light Between the Oceans is just too much! Have you got to the end yet? Total heart wrenching sobfest. Such a beautiful book of hope, life and sadness.

vladthedisorganised That is my favourite Paul Simon song...

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose,unexpectedly
And looking back down at me,smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying...

The bit you mention is so poignant,despite everything that may have happened to us.we have to carry on.

The Light Between the Oceans is just too much! Have you got to the end yet? Total heart wrenching sobfest. Such a beautiful book of hope, life and sadness.

I agree, beautifully written. I actually ended up skim reading through a good chunk of it to the end though as it was just too traumatic.

MamaMary - this was a reading adpated at my brothers wedding this summer done by his dear friend, an actor, and when he said these lines he turned to look at my brother and his wife and spoke the lines with such depth and meaning, 150 people in the church caught their breath.

A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh poems, called "The End."

When I was 1, I had just begun.

When I was 2, I was nearly new.

When I was 3, I was barely knee.

When I was 4, I was not much more.

When I was 5, I was just alive.

Now I'm 6, as clever as clever.

I think I'll be six now forever and ever.

They read it at tiny 6 year old Brett McKinnon's funeral, one of the Dunblane victims.

"Grown ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them" The Little Prince.
Also all of Desiderata.

I love that line from The Little Prince, and the other one that always gets me is, "there is a flower... I think that she has tamed me."

Also, anything by Annie Dillard, particularly, "And then, when we wake to the deep shores of time uncreated, then when the dazzling dark breaks over the far slopes of time, then it's time to toss things, like our reason, and our will; then it's time to break our necks for home."

I've thought of that quote on many a night flight, staring out at the enormity of the dark sky.

My Grandad had manic drepression, more on the depression side, which he said he got from the trauma of Dunkirk and what happened to him and his friends during WW2. He spent long periods in hospital for depression and one of these times my Mum and I decided to go and visit him very early one Sunday morning, when we got there we were not really allowed in but the nurse let us in and he was listening to his Walkman (it was the 80's) and he was listening to his favourite Dire Strairs CD tune 'Brothers in Arms' whilst sobbing in a chair by his bed. He looked up and saw us and a huge grin spread across his face. His said the song helped heal him and to remember all his friends who never made it back, his Brothers in Arms. On a lighter note, he loved Walk of Life of the same CD and would sing along so loud!

Brothers in Arms.

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to me
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed all your suffering
As the battle raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

It was written by Mark Knoffler about the Falklands War.

Charlotte's web, EB White:
"It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."

The whole kids book "Angelo"

Dr Seuss, Oh the places you'll go:
"Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot."