A piece of family trivia that I never get tired of:
On my mother's side, I'm distantly related to Joseph Conrad, famed writer of Heart of Darkness, among other classics. English was his fourth language, yet also the language in which he wrote his most famous work. The uncle who raised him, a Bobrowsky (my mother's maiden name), was also my great, great, great, etc. uncle. My mother has the family tree to prove it.

The older you get,
the more you begin to realize
that there can be comfort
in deterioration.
And fear drops away
as you become accustomed
to the empty
gaping holes
in your wisdom.
Some people
are born so strange,
they must spend a lifetime
de-and re-constructing
the wreckage.
"Be strong,"
she thought,
"cause these are only demons
in their death throws."
Trust in the cliches for a while,
or at least
that time can heal all wounds.