𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴

"I love you. You may as well take my heart Catherine it's already full of you." "Please go!" "What is it? What's wrong my dear?" "You know nothing about me….you've known me only three weeks!" "Three weeks? Catherine I've known you all my life." "All your life?" "It's true, when I heard beautiful music I thought, 'she'd like that'. I looked at flowers knowing that one day I'd give them to you." "Oh stop, stop." "But for my heart there is another love that must come before you, my country."

—Masquerade,

Dangerously Yours

Golden child, Lion boy; Tell me what it's like to conquer. Fearless child, Broken boy; Tell me what it's like to burn.

—oh darling, even Rome fell // p.s.

—Queen Esther

“Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.''--Gen 49:21

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑘, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡,𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛.

𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒.  𝑅𝑒𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑑, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢.

—The Beatitudes, 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 𝟻:𝟹–𝟷𝟸 (𝑁𝐼𝑉)

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴, 𝘰'𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘈 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯, 𝘢 𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳, 𝘈 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱, 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

—Unknown author, The Last Unicorn (inspired by Peter S. Beagle’s novel)

The city was silently bloating in the hot sun, rotting like the thousands of bodies that lay where they had fallen in street battles. An oppressive, hot wind blew from the southeast, carrying with it the putrefying stench of decay. And outside the city walls, Death itself waited— in the persons of Titus, son of Vespasian, and sixty thousand legionnaires, who were anxious to gut the City of God.

—Francine Rivers, A Voice in the Wind (Mark of the Lion series).

Time is like grains of sand slipping through our fingers — the one thing in life we cannot bargain with; each lost moment gone forever. Yet I alone wander its hidden paths, reclaiming what others surrender.

—A lady and her quill, The Almanac of a Lost Time Traveler.

“𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑖𝑔𝘩𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑟𝑦𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟, 𝑊𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝘩𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑇𝘩𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝘩𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑦, 𝑆𝑒𝑡 𝐺𝑟𝑦𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡;

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

If I cannot love you openly like I wish, if I cannot hold your hand when walking Or wrap you in my arms late at night. Then I will love you silently, in my mind and behind closed eyes For there, there is no rejection or heartbreak. And surely it is better to love silently than to not love at all?

—unknown