It was like when we was across, up out of the water again and the hard earth under us, that I was surprised. It was like we we hadn’t expected the bridge to end on the other bank, on something tame like the hard earth again that we had tromped on before this time and knowed well. Like it couldn’t be me here, because I’d have better sense than to done what I just done. And when I looked back and saw the other bank and saw my mule standing where I used to be and knew that I’d have to get back there someway, I knew it couldn’t be, because I just couldn’t think of anything that could make me cross that bridge ever even once. Yet here I was, and the fellow that could make himself cross it twice, couldn’t be me, not even if Cora told him to.

–Tull “As I Lay Dying”