A man embraces a woman he loves.

A man embraces a woman he loves. Their skin and clothes show them as kindred spirits under the stars. She is impossibly underweight, yet strong of mind, and full with feeling.

Although I think of this moment together as their last, it seems more a time of thanks and love, than a time of loss.

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Before You Leave is also available as a poetric entry at Encyclopedia Utopia, a publication that presents a perfect world, not as one without pain and sadness, but one where love is always present, and the intention to harm is absent. Utopia is envisioned as a place that remains full with struggle, but where the challenges of life are met with thoughtfulness, kindness, and compassion.

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