"I suspect that, even if I had begun as a norm, the saw-toothed yearning that whirls in me would bend me and spin me colorless, shrink me, scorch every hair from my body, and all invisibly so only my red eyes would blink out glimpses of the furnace thing inside.  In fact, I smell the stench of longing so clearly in the streets that I'm surprised there are not hundreds exactly like me on every corner."