Sadness

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 133 of 212 · 20 per page

• From Vox (1992)

  “Okay, and in return for your indulgence, I’m going to try to do something with your heirlooms there, on your dining-room table. Let me see. All right, once there was a guy who had a big party, a big dinner party for a dozen people, which really wasn’t his style, but he did it anyway, and when all of his friends had left, he began cleaning up, feeling slightly depressed. He took the plates in, the glasses in, the cutlery in, man, he’d never seen the basket in his dishwasher so stuffed with silverware. He jammed the last fork in, but in his impatience to close the dishwasher door and go to bed, he didn’t check that the fork was all the way in the basket, and as it happened it was not, because the forks were so tightly squeezed in there that he would have really had to work it down for it to stay put. This was one of the older-style dishwashers, and when that fork was tossed aloft by the first powerful spray of water up from the impeller, it fell, and it happened to fall so that it was caught dangling somehow between a plate and the little loop on the handle of a saucepan, with the points up, and the handle dangling far enough down that the sprayer in the bottom swung into it at full speed and notched it, and made it swing up again but not completely out of the way, and so it swung down into the path of the sprayer thing again and again, and got very messed up, and by the time this guy was able to get back to the kitchen and turn off the dishwasher, which sounded awful, the fork was badly injured. He dried the fork with a paper towel, and the rough places on the fork tore the paper, and that was too much for him, he almost felt like throwing the fork away, and he went to bed very dejected, wondering what the point of it all was. Okay? Now in this same city there was a jewelry store, that some might say was a little bit too trendy, but that was still a very nice place—they didn’t sell diamonds or emeralds or conventional big-ticket items like that, in fact it was called ‘Harvey’s Semi-Precious,’ after Harvey, the owner—and mostly it sold artisan stuff and collectibles. And you got a job there.” “I did?” she said.

• From Vox (1992)

  24 which is that the knowledge that the song is going to end starts to be more important than the specific ups and downs of the melody, and even though the singer is singing just as loud as ever, in fact she's really pouring it on now, she's fighting to be heard, it's as if you are hearing the inevitable waning of popularity of that hit, its slippage down the charts, and the twilight of the career of the singer, despite all of the beautiful subtle things she's able to do with a plain old dumb old bunch of notes, and even as she goes for one last high note, full of daring and hope and passionateness and everything worthwhile, she's lost, she's sinking down." "Oh! Don't cry!" he said. "I'm not equipped ... I mean my comforting skills don't have that kind of range. " There was another sound of ice cubes. She said, "It's just that I really liked him. Vain bum. We went dancing one night, and I made the mistake of suggesting to him as we were on the dance floor that maybe he should take his pen out of his shirt pocket and put it in his back pocket. And that was it, he never called me again." "That little scum-twirler! Tell me his address, I'll fade him out, I'll rip his arms off. " "No. I got over it. Anyway, that wasn't what I meant to talk about. I just mean I was here in my wonderfully orderly apartment after dinner and I saw this big joke of a stereo system and I switched it on, and the sky got darker and all the little red and green lights on the re ceiver were like ocean buoys or something, and I started

• From The Decameron (1353)

  However, like a very adroit man as he was, he wrought on such wise with Ferondo that he came whiles, with his wife, to take his pleasance in the abbey-garden, and there he very demurely entertained them with discourse of the beatitude of the life eternal and of the pious works of many men and women of times past, insomuch that the lady was taken with a desire to confess herself to him and asked and had Ferondo's leave thereof. Accordingly, to the abbot's exceeding pleasure, she came to confess to him and seating herself at his feet, before she proceeded to say otherwhat, began thus: 'Sir, if God had given me a right husband or had given me none, it would belike be easy to me, with the help of your exhortations, to enter upon the road which you say leadeth folk unto life eternal; but I, having regard to what Ferondo is and to his witlessness, may style myself a widow, and yet I am married, inasmuch as, he living, I can have no other husband; and dolt as he is, he is without any cause, so out of all measure jealous of me that by reason thereof I cannot live with him otherwise than in tribulation and misery; wherefore, ere I come to other confession, I humbly beseech you, as most I may, that it may please you give me some counsel concerning this, for that, an the occasion of my well-doing begin not therefrom, confession or other good work will profit me little.'

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  And now it was Stephen’s turn to grow red. * My father died. . . .’ She hesitated, then finished abruptly, “I don’t live with my mother any more, I don’t live at Morton.’ 298 THE WELL OF LONELINESS Mademorselle gasped. ‘ You no longer live . . .” she began, then something in Stephen’s face warned her kind but bewildered guest not to question. ‘I am deeply grieved to hear of your father’s death, my dear,’ she said very gently. Stephen answered: ‘ Yes — I shall always miss him.’ There ensued a long, rather painful silence, during which Mademoiselle Duphot felt awkward. What had happened be- tween the mother and daughter? It was all very strange, very disconcerting. And Stephen, why was she exiled from Morton? But Mademoiselle could not cope with these problems, she knew only that she wanted Stephen to be happy, and her kind brown eyes grew anxious, for she did not feel certain that Stephen was happy. Yet she dared not ask for an explanation, so instead she clumsily changed the subject. * When will you both come to tea with me, Stévenne? ’ “We'll come to-morrow if you like.’ Stephen told her. Mademoiselle Duphot left rather early; and all the way home to her apartment her mind felt exercised about Stephen. She thought: ‘She was always a strange little child, but so dear. I remember her when she was little, riding her pony astride like a boy; and how proud he would seem, that hand- some Sir Philip — they would look more like father and son, those two. ‘And now — is she not still a little bit strange?” But these thoughts led her nowhere, for Mademoiselle Duphot was quite unacquainted with the bypaths of nature. Her inno- cent mind was untutored and trustful; she believed in the legend of Adam and Eve, and no careless mistakes had been made in their garden! 4 [THE APARTMENT in the Avenue de la Grande Armée was as tidy as Valérie’s had been untidy. From the miniature kitchen to the miniature salon, everything shone as though recently polished, for here in spite of restricted finances, no dust was allowed to harbour. Mademoiselle Duphot beamed on her guests as she herself THE WELL OF LONELINESS 299 opened the door to admit them. ‘ For me this is very real joy,” she declared. Then she introduced them to her sister Julie, whose eyes were hidden behind dark glasses.

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  She put the card away in her desk; the ink and the blotter she hid in the cupboard together with the peevish steel nib that jabbed paper, and that richly deserved cremation. Then she straightened the chairs and threw away the litter, after which she went in search of a duster; one by one she dusted the few remaining volumes in the bookcase, including the Bibliothéque Rose. She arranged her dictation notebooks in a pile with others that were far less accurately written — books of sums, mostly careless and marked with a cross; books of English history, in one of which Stephen had begun ta write the history of the horse! Books of geography with Mademoiselle’s comments in strong purple ink: ‘Grand manque d’attention.’ And lastly she col- lected the torn lesson books that had lain on their backs, on their sides, on their bellies — anyhow, anywhere in drawers or in cup- boards, but not very often in the bookcase. For the bookcase was harbouring quite other things, a motley and most unstudious collection; dumb-bells, wooden and iron, of varying sizes — some Indian clubs, one split off at the handle — cotton laces, for gym shoes, the belt of a tunic. And then stable keepsakes, including a headband that Raftery had worn on some special occasion; a miniature horseshoe kicked sky-high by Collins; a half-eaten carrot, now withered and mouldy, and two hunting crops that had both lost their lashes and were waiting to visit the saddler. Stephen considered, rubbing her chin—a habit which by now had become automatic — she finally decided on the ample box-sofa as a seemly receptacle. Remained only the carrot, and THE WELL OF LONELINESS 67 she stood for a long time with it clasped in her hand, disturbed and unhappy — this clearing of decks for stern menta! action was certainly very depressing. But at last she threw the thing into the fire, where it shifted distressfully, sizzling and humming. Then she sat down and stared rather grimly at the flames that were burning up Raftery’s first carrot. CHAPTER 7 I

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  began to sing in the cedar, and his song was full of wild jubila- tion: ‘ Stephen, look at me, look at me!’ sang the thrush, ‘I’m happy, happy, it’s all very simple! > There was something heart- less about that singing which only served to remind her of Martin. She walked on disconsolate, thinking deeply. He had gone, he would soon be back in his forests — she had made no effort to keep him beside her because he had wanted to be her lover... . ‘ Stephen, look at us, look at us! ’ sang the birds, “ We’re happy, happy, it’s all very simple! ’ Martin walking in dim, green places — she could picture his life away in the forests, a man’s life, good with the goodness of danger, a primitive, strong, imperative thing — a man’s life, the life that should have been hers — And her eyes filled with heavy, regretful tears, yet she did not quite know for what she was weeping. She only knew that some great sense of loss, some great sense of incompleteness possessed her, and she let the tears trickle down her face, wiping them off one by one with her finger. And now she was passing the old potting shed where Collins had lain in the arms of the footman. Choking back her tears she paused by the shed, and tried to remember the girl’s appearance. Grey eyes — no, blue, and a round-about figure — plump hands, with soft skin always puckered from soap-suds — a housemaid’s knee that had pained very badly: ‘See that dent? That’s the water. . . . It fair makes me sick.’ Then a queer little girl dressed up as young Nelson: ‘ Pd like to be awfully hurt for you, Collins, the way that Jesus was hurt for sinners. . . . The potting shed smelling of earth and dampness, sagging a little on one side, lop-sided — Collins lying in the arms of the footman, Collins being kissed by him, wantonly, crudely — a broken flower pot in the hand of a child — rage, deep rage =a great anguish of spirit—blood on a face that was pale with amazement, very bright red blood that kept trickling and trickling — flight, wild, inarticulate flight, away and away, anyhow, anywhere — the pain of torn skin, the rip of torn stockings — She had not remembered these things for years, she had thought that all this had been quite forgotten; there was nothing THE WELL OF LONELINESS II3

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  And now she exerted all her subtlety and skill to make this queer guest of hers talk more freely, and Angela’s subtlety was no THE WELL OF LONELINESS 155 mean thing, neither was her skill if she chose to exert it. Very gradually the girl became more at her ease; it was up-hill work but Angela triumphed, so that in the end Stephen talked about Morton, and a very little about herself also. And somehow, al- though Stephen appeared to be talking, she found that she was learning many things about her hostess; for instance, she learnt that Angela was lonely and very badly in need of her friendship. Most of Angela’s troubles seemed to centre round Ralph, who was not always kind and seldom agreeable. Remembering Ralph she could well believe this, and she said: ‘I don’t think your husband liked me.’ Angela sighed: ‘ Very probably not. Ralph never likes the people I do; he objects to my friends on principle I think.’ Then Angela talked more openly of Ralph. Just now he was staying away with his mother, but next week he would be return- ing to The Grange, and then he was certain to be disagreeable: ‘ Whenever he’s been with his mother he’s that way — she puts him against me, I never know why — unless, of course, it’s be- cause I’m not English. I’m the stranger within the gates, it may be that.” And when Stephen protested, ‘ Oh, yes indeed, I’m quite often made to feel like a stranger. Take the people round here, do you think they like me?’ Then Stephen, who had not yet learnt to dissemble, stared hard at her shoes, in embarrassed silence. Just outside the door a clock boomed seven. Stephen started; she had been there nearly three hours. ‘I must go,’ she said, get- ting abruptly to her feet, “ you look tired, I’ve been making a Visitation.’ Her hostess made no effort to retain her: ‘ Well,’ she smiled, ‘ come again, please come very often — that is if you won’t find it dull, Miss Gordon; we’re terribly quiet here at The Grange.’ 3 STEPHEN drove home slowly, for now that it was over she felt like a machine that had suddenly run down. Her nerves were relaxed, she was theroughly tired, yet she rather enjoyed this unusual 150 THE WELL OF LONELINESS sensation. The hot June evening was heavy with thunder. From somewhere in the distance came the bleating of sheep, and the melancholy sound seemed to blend and mingle with her mood, which was now very gently depressed. A gentle but persistent sense of depression enveloped her whole being like a soft, grey cloak; and she did not wish to shake off this cloak, but rather to fold it more closely around her.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  Half an hour later we were stepping into a club where a young white man holding a trumpet was singing “This Is Love” in an innocent voice—innocent but angular, before an audience of just two tables, both silent, hands bright under lamps, faces lost in the filtered shade. The smoky, hard taste of whisky sank an upside-down question mark of warmth that plumbed my chest and swirled around inside my stomach. I was getting drunk. Lou’s face sparkled with sweat; a few points of moisture as definite as the dots on dice had broken out just above his nose. His dark jacket sleeves were pulled back to reveal heavy white shirt cuffs cuffing hands as cleanly as the gauze fits around a thoroughbred’s slender shanks. He sipped cigarettes, he sipped drinks with lips newly thinned by the opulent melancholy of the music. Nothing happened. There’s no payoff to this story and I repeat it only because the snapshot of Lou, so lost and so remote, impeccable despite the chaos in his apartment, still speaks to me with the force of an event (my plots are all scrapbooks). That night as we lay in bed, Lou’s room lurched here and there as though the camera were hand-held by a skater. He told me how he’d played jazz trumpet when he was nineteen. “I fell in love with our vocalist, a Negro woman a few years older than me, and when she became pregnant, my parents paid her off to go away somewhere. So I’ve got a twelve-year-old son wandering around—” “You’re sure it’s a son?” Lou looked bewildered, then irritated. “I’m not sure of anything, but I dream of a boy the nights when I’m able to dream of anything.” I asked him what happened to him after that. “I’d become addicted to heroin and my parents put me in an expensive psychiatric hospital, the one where the movie stars go. My brother was already there.” “What a wild family!” I exclaimed, although my burst of enthusiasm made the whole room dip nauseatingly. I propped up on two pillows that had lost their cases and I prayed for solid ground. “Yes,” Lou said witheringly, “quite wild. My brother committed suicide soon after my arrival. He was living in a halfway house after five years of expert professional treatment.” A small black toad of a laugh hopped through his lips. “Oh, Lou,” I said, “I’m sorry,” and I wanted to touch him, but I was afraid his body would be cold. “But the wildness of my tale is just starting,” Lou insisted.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  A PHYSICIAN'S WIFE PUTTETH HER LOVER FOR DEAD IN A CHEST, WHICH TWO USURERS CARRY OFF TO THEIR OWN HOUSE, GALLANT AND ALL. THE LATTER, WHO IS BUT DRUGGED, COMETH PRESENTLY TO HIMSELF AND BEING DISCOVERED, IS TAKEN FOR A THIEF; BUT THE LADY'S MAID AVOUCHETH TO THE SEIGNORY THAT SHE HERSELF HAD PUT HIM INTO THE CHEST STOLEN BY THE TWO USURERS, WHEREBY HE ESCAPETH THE GALLOWS AND THE THIEVES ARE AMERCED IN CERTAIN MONIES Filostrato having made an end of his telling, it rested only with Dioneo to accomplish his task, who, knowing this and it being presently commanded him of the king, began as follows: 'The sorrows that have been this day related of ill fortuned loves have saddened not only your eyes and hearts, ladies, but mine also; wherefore I have ardently longed for an end to be made thereof. Now that, praised be God, they are finished (except I should choose to make an ill addition to such sorry ware, from which God keep me!), I will, without farther ensuing so dolorous a theme, begin with something blither and better, thereby perchance affording a good argument for that which is to be related on the ensuing day. You must know, then, fairest lasses, that there was in Salerno, no great while since, a very famous doctor in surgery, by name Master Mazzeo della Montagna, who, being already come to extreme old age, took to wife a fair and gentle damsel of his city and kept better furnished with sumptuous and rich apparel and jewels and all that can pleasure a lady than any woman of the place. True it is she went a-cold most of her time, being kept of her husband ill covered abed; for, like as Messer Ricardo di Chinzica (of whom we already told) taught his wife to observe saints' days and holidays, even so the doctor pretended to her that once lying with a woman necessitated I know not how many days' study to recruit the strength and the like toys; whereof she abode exceeding ill content and like a discreet and high-spirited woman as she was, bethought herself, so she might the better husband the household good, to betake herself to the highway and seek to spend others' gear. To this end, considering divers young men, at last she found one to her mind and on him she set all her hope; whereof he becoming aware and she pleasing him mightily, he in like manner turned all his love upon her.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his home justified [forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with God] rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself [forsaking self-righteous pride] will be exalted.” 15 Now they were also bringing their babies to Him, so that He would touch and bless them, and when the disciples noticed it, they began reprimanding them. 16 But Jesus called them to Himself, saying [to the apostles], “Allow the children to come to Me, and do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God [with faith and humility] like a child will not enter it at all.” The Rich Young Ruler 18 A certain ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher [You who are essentially and morally good], what shall I do to inherit eternal life [that is, eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?” [Matt 19:16–29 ; Mark 10:17–30 ] 19 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially and morally] good except God alone. 20 “You know the commandments: ‘D O NOT COMMIT ADULTERY , D O NOT MURDER , D O NOT STEAL , D O NOT TESTIFY FALSELY , H ONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER .’ ” [Ex 20:12–16 ; Deut 5:16–20 ] 21 He replied, “I have kept all these things from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “You still lack one thing; sell everything that you have and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have [abundant] treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me [becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk].” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How difficult it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  3 “In that day, the songs of the palace shall turn to wailing,” says the Lord GOD . “There will be many dead bodies; in [sacred] silence they will throw them everywhere.” 4 Hear this, you who trample down the needy, and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying, “When will the New Moon [festival] be over So that we may sell grain, And the Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market, Making the ephah [measure] smaller and the shekel bigger [that is, selling less for a higher price] And to cheat by falsifying the scales, 6 So that we may buy the poor [as slaves] for silver [since they are unable to support themselves] And the a needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the leftovers of the wheat [as if it were a good grade of grain]?” 7 The LORD has sworn [an oath] by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I shall never forget [nor leave unpunished] any of their [rebellious] acts. 8 “Because of this [coming judgment] will the land not quake And everyone mourn who dwells in it? Indeed, all of it shall rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed around [from the impact of judgment] And [afterward] subside again like the Nile of Egypt. 9 “It shall come about in that day,” says the Lord GOD , “That I shall cause the sun to go down at noon, And I shall darken the earth in broad daylight. [Ezek 32:7–10 ] 10 “And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourning And all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung); And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s b loins And baldness on every head [shaved for mourning]. And I shall make that time like a time of mourning for an only son [who has died], And the end of it shall be like a bitter day. 11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD , “When I will send hunger over the land, Not hunger for bread or a thirst for water, But rather [a hunger] for hearing the words of the LORD . 12 “People shall stagger from sea to sea [to the very ends of the earth] And from the north even to the east; They will roam here and there to seek the word of the LORD [longing for it as essential for life], But they will not find it. 13 “In that day the beautiful virgins And [even the vigorous] young men shall faint from thirst.

• From The Glass Castle: A Memoir (2005)

  Dad was at the drafting table, working on some calculations, and Mom was going through her stacks of paintings. When I told them about my plan, Dad stubbed out his cigarette, stood up, and climbed out the back window without saying a word. Mom nodded and looked down, dusting off one of her paintings, murmuring something to herself. “So, what do you think?” I asked. “Fine. Go.” “What’s wrong?” “Nothing. You should go. It’s a good plan.” She seemed on the verge of tears. “Don’t be sad, Mom. I’ll write.” “I’m not upset because I’ll miss you,” Mom said. “I’m upset because you get to go to New York and I’m stuck here. It’s not fair.” • • • Lori, when I called her, approved of my plan. I could live with her, she said, if I got a job and chipped in on the rent. Brian liked my idea, too, especially when I pointed out that he could have my bed. He began making wisecracks in a lockjaw accent about how I was going to become one of those fur-wearing, pinkie-extending, nose-in-the-air New Yorkers. He began counting down the weeks until I left, just as I had counted them down for Lori. “In sixteen weeks, you’ll be in New York,” he’d say. The next week, “In three months and three weeks, you’ll be in New York.” Dad had barely spoken to me since I announced my decision. One night that spring, he came into the bedroom where I was up on my bunk studying. He had some papers rolled up under his arm. “Got a minute to look at something?” he asked. “Sure.” I followed him into the living room, where he spread the papers on the drafting table. They were his old blueprints for the Glass Castle, all stained and dog-eared. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them. We’d stopped talking about the Glass Castle once the foundation we’d dug was filled up with garbage. “I think I finally worked out how to deal with the lack of sunlight on the hillside,” Dad said. It involved installing specially curved mirrors in the solar cells. But what he wanted to talk to me about was the plans for my room. “Now that Lori’s gone,” he said, “I’m reconfiguring the layout, and your room will be a lot bigger.” Dad’s hands trembled slightly as he unrolled different blueprints. He had drawn frontal views, side views, and aerial views of the Glass Castle. He had diagrammed the wiring and the plumbing. He had drawn the interiors of rooms and labeled them and specified their dimensions, down to the inches, in his precise, blocky handwriting. I stared at the plans. “Dad,” I said, “you’ll never build the Glass Castle.” “Are you saying you don’t have faith in your old man?” “Even if you do, I’ll be gone.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  I’m going to give you one last chance to make it up to me.” And for the next three days he’d force them to work at gunpoint as he kept pulling at his bottle of scotch. In the snow, in the mud, they’d haul bricks, sniveling, pleading for forgiveness, but he’d keep them at it, laughing, sometimes brushing off voices and wings he alone perceived. Annie stopped talking. Then she said, “Someday I’ll show you the barn my brother and I built with our own hands.” She seemed very close to tears again. I wanted to say something right, to make it all up to her, not because I felt such sympathy (I feared her too much to pity her), but because I wanted that sort of power over her—the sort O’Reilly wielded. Maybe I envied the horror of her childhood; she had a legitimate reason to be messed up now. “The worst of it was when he would come out of it. Then he’d be so repentant he’d crawl across the floor, kiss our feet, and cry. He’d force us to hold the gun to his head and beg us to pull the trigger. We’d kiss him and comfort him and forgive him. Though he’d hurt us, though it was our nails that were torn, our faces covered with dirt—we’d forgive him so quickly.” Now she was crying, and the huge semis hurtling past, creating a momentary vacuum that sucked us into their wake, seemed for a second like the passions that grown-ups wreaked on their children. In this little car every revolution of the wheels, every segment in the pavement, was registered as a shock; we worked for every mile we gained. But perched high above us, comfortable in their crow’s nests of nude pinups, dangling foam dice, family snapshots, a dashboard twinkling with lights, the truckdrivers were smoothly guiding their liners through the night, politely saluting each other with doffed brights.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  Hosea 6 a 6:9 Shechem was the first capital city of the Kingdom of Israel. Hosea 7 a 7:1 Samaria became the capital city of the Kingdom of Israel (the ten northern tribes) during the reign of King Omri (see 1 Kin 16:24 ). b 7:14 Or with Greek and many ancient mss gash themselves. Hosea 8 a 8:10 Lit to be small . Hosea 10 a 10:5 Jeroboam was the king who established the worship of the golden calf at Bethel (House of God), later known as Beth-aven (1 Kin 12:28–33 ). Hosea 11 a 11:8 The cities totally destroyed with Sodom. Hosea 12 a 12:9 I.e. the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). Hosea 13 a 13:14 The apostle Paul brings this passage to mind—but with a change of meaning made possible by the resurrection of Christ. The Book of Joel Joel 1 1 T he word of the LORD that came to a Joel, the son of Pethuel. The Devastation of Locusts 2 Hear this, O elders, Listen closely, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing as this occurred in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell your children about it, And let your children tell their children, And their children the next generation. 4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten [in judgment of Judah]. 5 Awake [from your intoxication], you drunkards, and weep; Wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the [fresh] sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts], Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness. [Rev 9:7 , 8 ] 7 It has made My vine (My people) a waste and object of horror, And splintered and broken My fig tree. It has stripped them completely bare and thrown them away; Their branches have become white. [Is 5:5 , 6 ] 8 Wail like a virgin [bride] clothed with b sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth [who has died]. 9 The [daily] grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the LORD ; The priests mourn Who minister to the LORD . 10 The field is ruined, The ground mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The fresh oil fails. 11 Be ashamed, O farmers; Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and for the barley, Because the harvest of the field has perished. 12 The vine dries up And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up, Indeed, joy dries up and withdraws From the sons of men.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  Homosexuals we would never have thought of as a political entity, or if at all then as decadent sons of the haute bourgeoisie, the parasitical element every socialist state had had to execute or expel. I was able to prove my seriousness as a socialist precisely by not even mentioning homosexuals. One day Maria moved from Chicago and showed up, tearful, on my doorstep with just her black cat Boo-Boo and a box filled with the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. She had left Maeve, she said, because Maeve was such a heartbreaker, an intriguer, a Donna Juanna, an Irish drunk, charming and incorrigible. We sat at my kitchen table, which had a metal top printed to look like grainy wood and a hanging lamp above it cozily dimmed by a shade of gathered brown fabric, left behind by the previous tenant. We drank red wine and ate lasagna and talked and smoked and listened to Manon Lescaut. Maria had given up on Chicago. She’d never go back to its cold winds blasting off the lake, its comfortable, defeated, hard-driven lesbians, its big, underfurnished apartments. She talked with scorn of her affair with Maeve. “It was so humiliating, the broken promises, the tearful reproaches and steamy reconciliations, those drunken fights in bars, midnight phone calls, hurtling back and forth in cars on snow chains. All the hours of gossip with friends, of sympathy from other women—oh, I’m sick of it, sick of it!” She laughed through her tears, her shoulders shaking with sobs or merriment, I couldn’t tell which. My grungy little apartment’s three windows gave onto a narrow alley noisy with flapping laundry that by day projected silhouettes like black wings on our yellow shades. The bathroom, the most recent addition, had a tub so small that you washed with your knees around your chin. The sink had been

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  19 “If you belonged to the world, the world would love [you as] its own and would treat you with affection. But you are not of the world [you no longer belong to it], but I have chosen you out of the world. And because of this the world hates you. 20 “Remember [and continue to remember] that I told you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 “But they will do all these [hurtful] things to you for My name’s sake [because you bear My name and are identified with Me], for they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 “The one who hates Me also hates My Father. 24 “If I had not done among them the works (attesting miracles) which no one else [ever] did, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now [the fact is that] they have both seen [these works] and have hated Me [and continue to hate Me] and My Father as well. 25 “But [this is so] that the word which has been written in their Law would be fulfilled, ‘T HEY HATED M E WITHOUT A CAUSE .’ [Ps 35:19 ; 69:4 ] 26 “But when the d Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, He will testify and bear witness about Me. 27 “But you will testify also and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning. John 16 Jesus’ Warning 1 “I HAVE told you these things so that you will not stumble or be caught off guard and fall away. 2 “They will put you out of the synagogues and make you outcasts. And a time is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. 3 “And they will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me. 4 “I have told you these things [now], so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you. The Holy Spirit Promised 5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts [and taken complete possession of them].

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  4 A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. 5 A time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. 6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to a tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to keep silent and a time to speak. [Amos 5:13 ] 8 A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace. [Luke 14:26 ] 9 What profit is there for the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. God Set Eternity in the Heart of Man 11 He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good as long as they live; 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and see and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. 14 I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor can anything be taken from it, for God does it so that men will fear and worship Him [with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is God]. [Ps 19:9 ; James 1:17 ] 15 That which is has already been, and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by [so that history repeats itself]. 16 Moreover, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. 17 I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked,” for there is a time [appointed] for every matter and for every deed. 18 I said to myself regarding the sons of men, “God is surely testing them in order for them to see that [by themselves, without God] they are [only] animals.” 19 For the [earthly] fate of the sons of men and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no preeminence or advantage for man [in and of himself] over an animal, for all is vanity. 20 All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

• From Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (2017)

  Moreover, according to Williams, the Peculiar Institution and the peculiar forms of Americanism that it spawned had created a peculiar experience for Black women. “Though there is much that is sorrowful,” she maintained, “and much that is wonderfully heroic, and much that is romantic in a peculiar way in their history, none of it has as yet been told as evidence of what is possible for these women.”49 Black women’s peculiarity within the American body politic, coupled with a blind allegiance on the part of the white public to the gospel of American exceptionalism, had rendered Black female experience and personhood illegible within the American public: “The American people have always been impatient of ignorance and poverty. They believe with Emerson that ‘America is another word for opportunity,’ and for that reason success is a virtue and poverty and ignorance are inexcusable. This may account for the fact that our women have excited no general sympathy in the struggle to emancipate themselves from the demoralization of slavery.”50 Williams’s words point out that the great irony of the American system was that Americans’ deeply held disdain for inequality was outmatched only by their deep disdain for those who were unequal. Consequently, American exceptionalism had to be contested, not only in terms of its political implications, but also in terms of its epistemological implications. Failure to do so meant that Black female progress, and thus Black women’s lives, would continue to go intellectually unrecognized within the larger American body politic.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  At last, several years being passed since the birth of the girl, Gualtieri, deeming it time to make the supreme trial of her endurance, declared, in the presence of his people, that he could no longer endure to have Griselda to wife and that he perceived that he had done ill and boyishly in taking her, wherefore he purposed, as far as in him lay, to make interest with the Pope to grant him a dispensation, so he might put her away and take another wife. For this he was roundly taken to task by many men of worth, but answered them nothing save that needs must it be so. The lady, hearing these things and herseeming she must look to return to her father's house and maybe tend sheep again as she had done aforetime, what while she saw another woman in possession of him to whom she willed all her weal, sorrowed sore in herself; but yet, even as she had borne the other affronts of fortune, so with a firm countenance she addressed herself to bear this also. Gualtieri no great while after let come to him from Rome counterfeit letters of dispensation and gave his vassals to believe that the Pope had thereby licensed him to take another wife and leave Griselda; then, sending for the latter, he said to her, in presence of many, 'Wife, by concession made me of the Pope, I am free to take another wife and put thee away, and accordingly, for that mine ancestors have been great gentlemen and lords of this country, whilst thine have still been husbandmen, I mean that thou be no more my wife, but that thou return to Giannucolo his house with the dowry which thou broughtest me, and I will after bring hither another wife, for that I have found one more sorted to myself.'

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  [Matt 23:38 ; Acts 1:20 ] 26 For they have persecuted him whom You have struck, And they tell of the pain of those whom You have pierced and wounded. 27 Add [unforgiven] iniquity to their iniquity [in Your book], And may they not come into Your c righteousness. 28 May they be blotted out of the book of life [and their lives come to an end] And may they not be recorded with the righteous (those in right standing with God). [Rev 3:4 , 5 ; 20:12 , 15 ; 21:27 ] 29 But I am sorrowful and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me [securely] on high. 30 I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving. 31 And it will please the LORD better than an ox Or a young bull with horns and hoofs. 32 The humble have seen it and are glad; You who seek God [requiring Him as your greatest need], let your heart revive and live. [Ps 22:26 ; 42:1 ] 33 For the LORD hears the needy And does not despise His who are prisoners. 34 Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them. 35 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, That His servants may remain there and possess it. 36 The descendants of His servants will inherit it, And those who love His name will dwell in it. Psalm 70 Prayer for Help against Persecutors. To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. 1 O GOD, come quickly to save me; O LORD , come quickly to help me! 2 Let those be ashamed and humiliated Who seek my life; Let them be turned back and humiliated Who delight in my hurt. 3 Let them be turned back because of their shame and disgrace Who say, “Aha, aha!” 4 May all those who seek You [as life’s first priority] rejoice and be glad in You; May those who love Your salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified!” 5 But I am afflicted and needy; Come quickly to me, O God! You are my help and my rescuer; O LORD , do not delay. Psalm 71 Prayer of an Old Man for Rescue. 1 I N YOU, O LORD , I have put my trust and confidently taken refuge; Let me never be a put to shame. 2 In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; Incline Your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge and a sheltering stronghold to which I may continually come; You have given the commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked (godless), From the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man.