Manuel

“All of this was mine, simply for agreeing to marry a man I did not love but who was, in the end, the only man who had ever asked.”
― Melanie Benjamin, Alice I Have Been

“The tusks that clashed in mighty brawls
Of mastodons, are billiard balls. The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is ferric oxide, known as rust. The grizzly bear whose potent hug
Was feared by all, is now a rug. Great Caesar’s bust is on the shelf,
And I don’t feel so well myself. ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS
by Arthur Guiterman”
― Dan Simmons, Prayers to Broken Stones