On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong

To arrive at love, then, is to arrive through obliteration. Eviscerate me, we mean to say, and I’ll tell you the truth.

They say nothing lasts forever but they’re just scared it will last longer than they can love it.

What if my sadness is actually my most brutal teacher? And the lesson is always this: You don’t have to be like the buffaloes. You can stop.