time

The passage of time will usually extract the venom from most things and render them harmless.

-Haruki Murakami in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, 1997-

This is also one of the themes of Murakami's Norwegian Wood, named after the Beatles song that interestingly is also called This Bird Has Flown:


I once had a girl
Or should I say, she once had me
She showed me her room
Isn't it good Norwegian wood?

She asked my to stay and told me sit anywhere
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair

I sat on a rug, biding my time
Drinking her wine
We talked until two, and then she said:
"It's time for bed,"

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh
I told her I didn't, and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke, I was alone
This bird has flown
So I lit a fire
Isn't it good Norwegian wood?