Best 15 quotes of Milan Sime Martinic on MyQuotes

And so on this day, in this plant-and-light-and-life paradise, the four of us rose in awe — without knowing why — of the life-giving power that shone gold over us.

Despite all the forces that determine so much about our lives, Despite the massive conspiracy of the universe, We carry the burden of the choices we make...

From somewhere under the shadows of the cholla, other dogs took on the self-important job of announcing our arrival to the chickens and the townspeople, barely managing to annoy an indifferent burro sitting tied to a rock, asleep perhaps, opening its bored eyes only halfway and batting its ears only slightly, without moving its head, not amused by either the furious sounds or the sight of strangers.

Hunger was by now as natural as walking, and we walked out of the yard and into the streets of the old city, scruffy, and beautiful, and grimy at the same time, lit up by the fires of food vendors with their clouds of sweet smoke hawking the flavors louder than the blaring brassy women tending their flames and selling the foods.

I no longer had illusions as to the nature of my soul.

It is not too late... there is time still." I am dying. There are tears in my eyes. Please cradle my head in your hand. Let me look into the stars. Are they really in the sky? Or are they just in my mind because what is there I cannot see? The woman tilted her head, revealing a rim of bruising around a clean-tucked hole in her head. There was blood. Dry blood. This is more pain than a human heart can bear. Like fistfuls of fear, cries shoot from my eyes. There are tears running down my face. It is a salty, bitter taste. My wounds need care. I look up to my mom, but can think of nothing to say. I am dying. I need you. Embrace me. I am dying... "Shhhh...

No moon rose that night. We walked on the tracks, hot and sticky, in displeased gusts of wind that slapped and whipped and pushed, and did more to keep us restless than the events of the day could do to exhaust us. One fact about that night can never be denied — Bright Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Orion and Perseus, the starry heroines and heroes of one-million human nights, marched over our heads in a great procession across the dome of heaven, and sank to the west, undisturbed, silently ashamed of the cowardice of man.

People were leaping off La Bestia and running as if chased by demons spilling from hell. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Melquis and Edith jump together; I could tell Solyapa was still in front of me. I let go more out of reflex than plan, and regretted it that instant, thinking that perhaps I should have helped Solyapa first. No matter, I was surprised by the jerky scrape of dirt against my flesh as it tugged and wrestled against me as I kept moving forward despite being on the ground. The dirt itself was surprisingly hot; there was red in my eyes, nothing was clear; I felt a pain over the front of my head and my right eye was throbbing.

Soldiers were clattering onto the streets, the flourish of their rifles rap-tap-tapping echoed in the shattered silence, and that sent cold chills that shivered our spines.

The next words were a revelation that God had made the world not for me. It was a revelation that rung in my ears and nearly flayed me. I looked at my bandaged hand and thanked the heavens or the devil for my luck. I tried to swallow but my tongue was thick and dry. I could feel my heartbeat in my eyeballs. Then, I was alone in the universe.

The stars, like candlelights of the angels, chose not to hide that night, and watched over our uncertain sleep.

The sweet sleep ended abruptly. Someone pried the door open, throwing light and voices carelessly, urgently, voices that alarmed me, voices that mark the line dividing my life in two, before and now.

This is the wake of my adventures and my immigrant dreams — Keep vigil with me as memories flood and plunge in and out of living nightmare carried by a propulsive current of misfortunes, losses, hopes, loves, tears, missteps, sorrows, and despairs in a journey that reveals an unknown destination and a silent quest that must be conjured and examined to make life meaningful. But is it all too late?

We paused and moved again in languid fits, and it went on like that, advancing and sitting, until the tempests left and the overcast passed us; then the sun appeared, and a rainbow arched behind us. But the rainbow brought no respite.

What is written in the stars? And what do God and the Devil know of me?