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The poet stopped again, and this time he did not go on. He looked into his glass, as if the wine held a vision, and then he looked up and said, “I have spent my entire life trying to get that innocence back. And I have failed.”

“You didn’t offend me,” he said. “You just reminded me of something I’d rather forget.” Role Models

“That was a wonderful story,” I said. The poet stopped again, and this time he did not go on

“I asked her what she meant by ‘innocence.’ She looked at me for a long time, and then she said, ‘Innocence is the belief that something is true because you want it to be true. It is the belief that the world is good because you are good. It is the belief that the people you love will never hurt you, and that the people you hate will never win. It is a beautiful belief, and it is always wrong.’” “You just reminded me of something I’d rather forget

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

He looked at me, and his eyes were cold. “It wasn’t a story,” he said. “It was the truth.”