Peig Sayers, An Old Woman’s Reflections (1936)

I am now at tight grips with the years and many a thing I saw. Everything I was interested in I didn’t let it astray. Someone else will have pastime out of my work when I’m gone on the way of truth. A person here and a person there will say, maybe, “Who was that old Peig Sayers,” but poor Peig will be the length of their shout from them. This green bench where she used to do the studying will be a domicile for the birds of the wilderness, and the little house where she used to eat and drink, it’s unlikely there’ll be a trace of it there.

These thoughts appearing in my heart today are lonely. They are not pleasant for me but I can’t help them. Here they are towards me in their thousands; they are like soldiers. As I scatter them, they come together again. It’s no good for me to be at them. They have beaten me. My blessing and the blessing of God on Youth; and my advice to everyone is to borrow from this life, because a spool is no faster turning than it.