The bonds between a person and us exist only in thought.

Memory,
in its fading,
loosens them;
and,
despite the illusion we would like to be victims of,
and,
with which,
out of love,
out of friendship,
out of courtesy,
out of human respect,
out of duty,
we deceive others,
we live alone.

Man is the being who cannot escape from himself,
who knows others only in himself,
and who,
if he says otherwise,
lies.

~ Marcel Proust, "In Search of Lost Time" ~

Photo by Beth Parnaby #chiaroscuro