This book's language is intensely poetic and hypnotic in nature. A story about the loss and regaining of innocence; but, more to the point, a literary novel concerning the life-journey of a man with schizophrenia and how he is able to find the will to overcome the odds that are set against him, how he finds his own health by healing others who have the same disease, and by falling in love, he becomes a whole person again.NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:This book is as much about my life as it is a creation of art, something that I hope will inspire others to strive to overcome the odds set against them, something that I hope will be appreciated for more than a memoir… an extended poem, a catharsis that has purpose. I have wondered about the nature of fiction or nonfiction in relation to this piece. To me, it seems that when one is approaching the subject of a lifetime, an author must make choices about what to include and what to omit. The fact that there are choices being made, and even embellishments— poetic license— then has caused me to finally call the work fiction rather than nonfiction, and I would hope it would be read in such light, the reader not dissecting my life, but more appreciating the content as a work of art, as an extended poem, or a story simply of a man who has overcome the odds set against him, and, essentially a mere love story by its end.I began compiling the material for this book almost four years ago, when I was thirty-seven; but, many parts of this book were written some fifteen years or more ago, back in my twenties. It has been a long, enlightening journey, the setting pen to paper, the process of writing my first novel. I have learned much in the process, and it has been frustrating at times trying to hone the work to where it is ready to be shared with others. Also, I feel that it is yet a work in-progress… and might not be truly completed for some time. So, I ask that the reader yet have patience with the work, and realize during their reading of the words that errors in the text are a natural process… that writing a novel can be a life-endeavor, and that mistakes can always be fixed with patience and time.