excerpt from "Misterioso" (1990) by Centolella

 

The more people I know and the more I know people

the more frightening they become.  Everyone

has been damaged to near extinction.  Everyone

has loved inordinately those they should not have loved

except in the most disembodied spirit of good will.

And everyone has been loved at some time or another

by the wrong people, or for the wrong reasons, or for reasons

that at the time seemed suspect, insubstantial.

And who hasn't been at the mercy of circumstance:

born under a bad sign, born with bad genes, or just born,

period.  Timing is everything and some will never be

the right person in the right place at the right time,

no matter how hard or long they try.  Period.