The pact that we made was the ordinary pact br of men & women in those days br br I don’t know who we thought we were br that our personalities br could resist the failures of the race br br Lucky or unlucky, we didn’t know br the race had failures of that order br and that we were going to share them br br Like everybody else, we thought of ourselves as special br br Your body is as vivid to me br as it ever was: even more br br since my feeling for it is clearer: br I know what it could and could not do br br it is no longer br the body of a god br or anything with power over my life br br Next year it would have been 20 years br and you are wastefully dead br who might have made the leap br we talked, too late, of making br br which I live now br not as a leap br but a succession of brief, amazing movements br br each one making possible the nextbr br Adrienne Richbr br