Odd tears

Rosa Parks seems to have lived a long and beautiful life. I'm pleased that she is getting so much praise on the news today. I'm also reminded of Sarah Vowell's comedic essay on public figures who have inappropriately compared themselves to Rosa Parks. (The essay appears in Vowell's The Partly Cloudy Patriot.)

I didn't cry over Rosa Parks' passing. But I did start sobbing a minute ago upon recalling the ending of a certain children's book. I won't reveal the title or the author just now, but the ending goes something like this:

"Oh!" said Susan. "Their wings are soft."
"Oh!" said Harriet. "Their hands are kind."

Does anybody recognize this book? Does anybody else go to pieces over it?

It's a good thing I work in a relative privacy. Because, after the book's last two sentences went floating through my head, I sat down on the floor and bawled. I cried so hard that I started to wonder if something is wrong with me. There's no reason for these tears, except maybe as a symptom of other wounds and worries, all in need of kind hands.