José Saramago, the
Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist recalled [of
his grandfather who suffered a stroke and was taken to Lisbon for treatment],
"He went into the yard of
his house, where there were a few trees, fig trees, olive trees. And he went one
by one, embracing the trees and crying, saying good-bye to them because he knew
he would not return. To see this, to live this, if that doesn't mark you for the
rest of your life," Saramago said, "you have no feeling."
