"Alex decided to address her in English, not so much because he wished to cover his feelings with deceit, but because if he were to have spoken the words in Russian she might have misunderstood his intention and drifted away into studied indifference or abruptly left and found a safer seat. In fact, he wished to unburden his heart without consequences in a fashion that would neither captivate nor alienate. In this sense it was an exercise for himself alone - or at least the literal content of the message was for his hears only. It was not entirely self-serving. The act of dramatic recitation, which involved elements of entertaiment and the release of indecipherable music into the atmosphere, would serve her needs by distracting her from her own wound. There was no desire for conquest in his motivation, nor even a schoolboy infatuation. He felt his admiration was of the most noble and purified sort. If he resembled any other lover in the long history of love, he was sure that he was most like Dante. (...)
If the root of it was sexual, it was only partly so, for what was pouring from the fracture in his chest was of such great strength that he knew it was more than simple carnality or even romanticized, idealized carnality. If he had met her in other circumstances, free of his loneliness and natural attraction, he would still have loved her. So he told himslef".
from The Father's Tale, by Michael D. O'Brien, Ignatius Press, pag. 559-560
