All her life she had believed in something more, in the mystery that shape-shifted at the edge of her senses. It was the flutter of moth wings on glass and the promise of river nymphs in the dappled creek beds. It was the smell of oak trees on the summer evening she fell in love, and the way dawn threw itself across the cow pond and turned the water to light.
~ Eowyn Ivey
(The Snow Child)
I have loved luna moths and The Snow Child and that “something more” that lurked at the edge of one’s senses. In an interesting and terrible aside I gave a dead luna moth to a Toltec fellow years and years ago. It meant so much to me. He threw it in the fire and burned it. I fumed for years…perhaps it was a beginning lesson on learning to let go.
I love the ways different writers describe ‘the mystery that shape-shifts at the edge of our senses.’ I think it’s why I started collecting quotes… It sure does hurt when we offer a gift so full of meaning to us, only to have it thoughtlessly discarded. Was the luna moth one you discovered yourself? I’ve only seen one live in my life. It was clinging to the kitchen screen door on the night of our summer solstice celebration. I was enchanted.