Will you forgive me, my love… will you forgive me if I lay here like this? If I take this peace from her? Because that is what it is: it is peace, her purr. It is a stillness I have not known since I woke with you that first morning after we were wed, and contemplated you as one contemplates the rest of their life. All I want is to sleep and be rid of this hurt. I’m so tired, my love… I’m so tired.