... having been breathed out

Janie awoke next morning by feeling Tea Cake almost kissing her breath away. Holding her and caressing her as if he feared she might escape his grasp and fly away. Then he must dress hurriedly and get to his job on time. He wouldn’t let her get him any breakfast at all. He wanted her to get her rest. He made her stay where she was. In her heart she wanted to get his breakfast for him. But she stayed in bed long after he was gone.

So much had been breathed out by the pores that Tea Cake still was there. She could feel him and almost see him bucking around the room in the upper air. After a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake leap forth and mount to the sky on a wind. That was the beginning of things.

—Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

I was vaguely re-reading sections from Their Eyes Were Watching God (as one does), and I came upon this TRULY EXCELLENT incidence of “had been breathed out,” which is almost my username! In almost my favorite novel! By complete coincidence! (Well, complete coincidence unless Hurston was referencing Sappho here, or referencing a third party who referenced Sappho, which could certainly be the case. Or unless Anne Carson, in translating Sappho, was referencing Hurston! Oh, the twisted paths of influence.)

In any case, yay for Hurston and for me!