# Quote — Julia Alvarez, Homecoming

> The tarragon dotted the rice in the cauldron.
>
> And now, as if signaled, the spice jars popped open,
>
> unladened their far east wonders:
>
> cumin, turmeric, saffron, and endives.
>
> The aunts each put in a shake of their favorites.
>
> The steam unwrinkled their frowns from their faces.

- Author: [Julia Alvarez](https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez.md)
- Book: [Homecoming](https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez/homecoming.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julia_Alvarez#What_Could_It_Be%3F) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez/homecoming/the-tarragon-dotted

## More from this book

> Are we all with acute loneliness,
>
> chronic patients trying to recover
>
> the will to love?
>
> ...Sometimes the love
>
> of another wounded one acts like a salve
>
> which soothes the dying self but cannot heal
>
> our lives. And perhaps this is what it feels
>
> like to be human, and we are all well?

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez/homecoming/are-we-all.md)

> I was driving down the mountain, the curves
>
> were bad, I wasn't going slow, the day
>
> was one of those that takes your breath away...
>
> On hilltops, I made believe I'd take off
>
> into the absolute, but as I swerved
>
> again and again...
>
> and as the sun's
>
> autumnal, soporific light shone on...
>
> something gave in me and I let go—
>
> this driving need to make it all mean more.
>
> In time, I turned the wheel back to the road.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez/homecoming/i-was-driving.md)

> I'm watching a romantic play
>
> in Plato's cave; half the time I don't
>
> believe in it...
>
> Other times I'm so addicted I'm one of the mainliners...
>
> hallucinating that in truth a man's
>
> body is one of the Absolute Forms.
>
> I look around when the houselights come on
>
> and see no one!

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez/homecoming/im-watching-a-romantic.md)