Margaret Atwood Quote
Up You wake up filled with dreadThere seems no reason for it.Morning light sifts through the window,there is birdsong,you can’t get out of bed. It’s something about the crumpled sheetshanging over the edge like junglefoliage, the terry slippers gapingtheir dark pink mouths for your feet,the unseen breakfast–some of itin the refrigerator you do not dareto open–you do not dare to eat. What prevents you? The future. The future tense,immense as outer space.You could get lost there.No. Nothing so simple. The past, its destinyand drowned events pressing you down,like sea water, like gelatinfilling your lungs instead of air. Forget all that and let’s get up.Try moving your arm.Try moving your head.Pretend the house is on fireand you must run or burn.No, that one’s useless.It’s never worked before. Where is it coming from, this echo,this huge No that surrounds you,silent as the folds of the yellowcurtains, mute as the cheerful Mexican bowl with its cargoor mummified flowers?(You chose the colours of the sun,not the dried neutrals of shadow.God knows you’ve tried.)Now here’s a good one:you’re lying on your deathbed.You have one hour to live.Who is it, exactly, you have neededall these years to forgive?
Up You wake up filled with dreadThere seems no reason for it.Morning light sifts through the window,there is birdsong,you can’t get out of bed. It’s something about the crumpled sheetshanging over the edge like junglefoliage, the terry slippers gapingtheir dark pink mouths for your feet,the unseen breakfast–some of itin the refrigerator you do not dareto open–you do not dare to eat. What prevents you? The future. The future tense,immense as outer space.You could get lost there.No. Nothing so simple. The past, its destinyand drowned events pressing you down,like sea water, like gelatinfilling your lungs instead of air. Forget all that and let’s get up.Try moving your arm.Try moving your head.Pretend the house is on fireand you must run or burn.No, that one’s useless.It’s never worked before. Where is it coming from, this echo,this huge No that surrounds you,silent as the folds of the yellowcurtains, mute as the cheerful Mexican bowl with its cargoor mummified flowers?(You chose the colours of the sun,not the dried neutrals of shadow.God knows you’ve tried.)Now here’s a good one:you’re lying on your deathbed.You have one hour to live.Who is it, exactly, you have neededall these years to forgive?