If you had to lose everything, what would you miss most? It wouldn’t be anything gross, like the big house, or the fancy car, assuming you had such things. It wouldn’t be your impeccable reputation, or fame, or the regard of others. No; if you had to lose everything – I mean EVERYTHING – it would be the things you most take for granted now that you would miss. It would be different for each person, and it would probably surprise you to know what it was: a lilac tree in flower, the sound of a train in the distance, the smell of marmalade or hot buttered toast. Rain on a windowpane. A fruit thingummy.

If you had to lose everything, what would you miss most? It wouldn’t be anything gross, like the big house, or the fancy car, assuming you had such things. It wouldn’t be your impeccable reputation, or fame, or the regard of others. No; if you had to lose everything – I mean EVERYTHING – it would be the things you most take for granted now that you would miss. It would be different for each person, and it would probably surprise you to know what it was: a lilac tree in flower, the sound of a train in the distance, the smell of marmalade or hot buttered toast. Rain on a windowpane. A fruit thingummy.

– John Burnside –

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