The Wild Silence Quotes
"I’m lost, but here, at least for a moment, I’m found."
"I couldn’t think any more, only feel, and I gave in to sleep, a deep, brief, total oblivion."
"In a space between worlds, at a time between years, in a life between lives."
"I was outside, in the wild, on every shade of red, black and brown soil, in damp mossy woods and deep hidden valleys."
"He was lying spreadeagled on the mattress in the bedroom; even the growing light of the day finding its way through a stained-glass window hadn’t woken him."
"A world of university and the chapel, where the Coast Path ran past the front gate and I waited for him to return."
"I could feel the pull of the coast in both directions and as I stretched my arms wide and blended into the unseen, craggy, well-known shapes my exhaled breath became the wind, as did I."
"The day when the guidebook would be the only record that our walk had ever happened."
"I sat at the table with a cup of tea and thought about the day ahead."
"The day when CBD had crept so far that the clear, magical, wild experience we’d shared was lost to him forever and I’d be left alone with the memory."
"I knew how she felt; there aren’t many things as sleep-inducing as a teenager who can’t just get on with something."
"It was the land, the earth, the deep humming background to my very being."
"I could feel the difficulty of what was happening that day and I couldn’t have him there."
"She’s on nil-intervention. We’d have to get approval from the consultant."
"I couldn’t accept it. At the first crack of light through the window I picked the phone up."
"We weren’t the same people who had started that walk; we were changed in ways beyond measure."
"That’s why we all stay hidden. It’s not like in the big towns; in the countryside you can’t sleep on the street, you’ve got to keep out of sight."
"I’ve been researching CBD, looking for the answer to why you were so well when we were walking, and why you’re deteriorating so quickly now."
"The only sound was the resonance of the voice in my head, never quiet, hollowing my thoughts into echo chambers of its insistence."
"I finally knew what had driven me to suggest that we should walk across cliffs and beaches, through woods and valleys, sleeping wild, living wild."
"‘Moth, I have to tell you this – this is so important.’"
"I rearranged the wreaths on the grave as a cold wind blew up from the farm in the hollow below."
"There was a lack of something, but that lack had been almost invisible until I held up the mirror of Copsford and what was reflected wasn’t the estate of my childhood."
"Why, why, why had that happened? There had to be a reason, but maybe it was time to accept that the doctors were right, that there was nothing that could be done other than face the inevitability of the end."
"It’s hard to spot a fork in the road of life, harder still to make a deliberate choice which way to go. But sometimes you can catch a fleeting glimpse of one as it disappears in the rear-view mirror."
"Sometimes you just need someone else to switch the light on in your dark place."
"Opportunity knocks, but karma tracks you down."
"Fear of falling, of landing, of being caught out, of recrimination."
"Trust was still elusive, we might never find a way to truly trust other people again, but we had something bigger than that."
"Nothing was permanent, anything could or would change, that the only stability in life was my hand in Moth’s and our children’s voices on the phone."
"We held hands, put our trust in the path and jumped."
"Pests that, if they’re not eaten by moles, would be destroyed with poisons, poisons which can then kill the birdlife that might feed on the pests."
"As if embracing nature in such an absolute way was something to be put away in the toy box, not carried through into adult life."
"Their wild, uncontrolled union with the natural world had been a normal part of their lives."
"It’s as if he used Copsford to give Dick the youth he didn’t have, to recreate the life he’d lost."
"How, maybe without even consciously intending to, he had put Dick in a place where he could always find him."
"‘Fuck me, I’m totally knackered and I’ve run out of petrol.’"
"In the pile of books on the table waiting to be signed, Moth would always lift his rucksack and turn his face to the wind."
"Throughout history birds have been seen as auguries, messengers and omens."
"Above the trail of soil mounds, on the telegraph pole near the house, a huge bird sat quietly looking around."
"‘Wow, Moth, you should have seen that. Quick, get up before it disappears.’"
"As Murray was writing Copsford, he looked back at Walter, a naïve twenty-something, wandering in the fields picking herbs."
"I’m not sure about that; it’s a multi-layered book, perfect for book clubs, hospital visits and prison break-outs."
"‘Of course, and we played cricket in our wetsuits because it was so wet, but the kids didn’t want to go home. But what’s that got to do with it?’"
"‘It’s not ours, Ray, you have to remember that. Don’t let yourself get attached.’"
"‘It would be great to be in the tent on a night like this. What you were saying about another walk? Shall we do it?’"
"‘I think we should do it again, another walk – maybe not quite so far this time though …’"
"When do we lose confidence in our bodies, forget how to trust them without thought or preparation?"
"Possibly the best way to defy ageing isn’t through expensive serums, endless hours in the gym, and overly sharp scalpels, but simply by trusting our bodies to be as strong and capable as they ever were."
"I watched Moth on the opposite bank, boots on, laces tied, beckoning me to him. For a moment, the rush of water seemed to slow, and I thought I saw a young man push the long hair from his face and wait to catch me as he called me on into his world."
"Trust, such an elusive thing, but given the slightest chance it can grow and flourish."
"The earth beneath our feet has no need of humanity. It exists in a state of fixed impermanence, a volcanic equilibrium of rock and ash in constant realignment."
"Nothing can be measured in time, only change, and change is always within our grasp, always simply a matter of choice."
"The voice of the beating pulsing wild silence of the earth. The voice of ... home."