Burial Rites

And what of the Son of God? Did He die only for the righteous?

He leaned back on his elbows. ‘What makes you think I wait until you’re asleep?’

‘Loneliness threatened to bite you at every turn. I took what company presented itself.’

‘Brennt barn forðast eldinn.’ Her voice was soft, careful. ‘The burnt child fears the fire.’

Her poetry made lamps out of people.

We’re all shipwrecked. All beached in a peat bog of poverty.

We’re all shipwrecked. All beached in a peat bog of poverty.

As folks say, for every mountain there is a valley

For the first time in my life, someone saw me, and I loved him because he made me feel I was enough.

He lay back down on the snow. ‘What’s the name for the space between stars?’

‘No such name.’

‘Make one up.’

I thought about it. ‘The soul asylum.’

‘That’s another way of saying heaven, Agnes.’