so beautiful, so sad, and, alas, so true.

repeated phrases are hard to pull off in writing, but yours ("If you are brave, very, very brave") works quite nicely and gracefully into the rest of the story. *applause*

*whistles*

I got chills reading this. It's an amazing work of art; it captures something of the essence of sadness within it. This is the kind of work that I strive for and never quite reach, the perfection of the art of writing.

Great work from a great writer!

With admiration,~Fae