Bokelskere.no

Jeg hadde drukket mye vin og etterpå kaffe og strega, og jeg forklarte, vinoppriktig, hvordan vi aldri gjorde det vi ønsket å gjøre. Aldri gjorde vi det.

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by bill posters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Vi drakk den andre grappa’en. Rinaldi stakk flasken vekk, og vi gikk ned trappen. Det var varmt å gå gjennom byen, men solen holdt på å gå ned, og det var meget behagelig. Det engelske hospitalet var i en stor villa, bygd av tyskerne før krigen. Miss Barkley var ute i hagen sammen med en annen sykepleierske. Vi så de hvite uniformene deres mellom trærne, og gikk bort til dem. Rinaldi gjorde honnør. Jeg gjorde også honnør, men mere moderat.
“God dag,” sa Miss Barkley. “De er ikke italiener vel?”
“Å nei da.”
Rinaldi snakket med den andre sykepleiersken. De lo.
“Så rart, tenk å være i den italienske armé.”
“Jeg er egentlig ikke i hæren, bare i ambulansen.”
“Det er rart likevel. Hvorfor er De det?”
“Jeg vet ikke,” sa jeg. “Det er ikke alltid noen forklaring på allting.”

Det var ganske riktig hans kne. Det andre kneet var mitt. Legene gjorde noe ved en, og etterpå var det ikke ens kropp lenger. Hodet var mitt og det indre av magen. Det var en svare sult der inne. jeg kjente den snu rundt på seg selv. Hodet var mitt, men det var ikke til å bruke, ikke til å tenke med. Bare til å huske, og endelig ikke huske alt for meget.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose.

Et klassisk verk er en bok som folk roser, men aldri leser. Hemmingway.

Jeg ble sprengt i luften mens jeg satt og spiste ost.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.