Sublime

He pulls back too soon, catching the familiar suggestion of her perfume. He is terrified of being unable to let go, unconsciously retracing the contours of her. Every time he imagines he has moved on, a comment or a reference takes him back, life since defined by her absence. ‘How are you?’ he says, pleased that his voice sounds reasonably authorit

Young love-making – that gossamer web! Even the points it clings to – the things whence its subtle interlacings are swung – are scarcely perceptible; momentary touches of finger-tips, meetings of rays from blue and dark orbs, unfinished phrases, lightest changes of cheek and lip, faintest tremors. The web itself is made of spontaneous beliefs and i

Five years: – if he could only be sure that she cared for him more than for others; if he could only make her aware that he stood aloof until he could tell his love without lowering himself – then he could go away easily, and begin a career which at five-and-twenty seemed probable enough in the inward order of things, where talent brings fame, and

Michel Thomas n’entretient pas de rapports extraprofessionnels avec ses collègues. Le soir après le travail, sa vie est ailleurs. Dans la lecture. Dans l’écriture. Et dans la fréquentation des auteurs et des éditeurs, ce qu’il tait. Quand il s’exprime, c’est toujours de manière évasive et résignée. Il sait que les poètes ne vivent pas de leur œuvre

Jamal Basha