OUTTAKES: THE BACKSTORY

 
As usual in writing a book, a lot of good stuff ends up on the cutting room floor, so to speak. This outtake was hard to let go of, more so because I didn't write it:

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

-Edna St. Vincent Millay
Dirge Without Music