The Passion

The third is to refuse the passion as one might sensibly refuse a leopard in the house, however tame it might seem at first.

You might reason that you can easily feed a leopard and that your garden is big enough, but you will know in your dreams at least that no leopard is ever satisfied with what it's given.

After nine nights must come ten and every desperate meeting only leaves you desperate for another. There is never enough to eat, never enough garden for your love.

So you refuse and then you discover that your house is haunted by the ghost of a leopard. When passion comes late in life it is hard to bear.

Jeanette Winterson, The Passion