Being Destroyed

-Darling, you don't know how marvellous it is to see you feelling better. I couldn't stand it when you felt that way. You won't talk to me like that again, will you? Promise me?

-No -he said- I don't remember what I said.

-You don't have to destroy me. I'm only a middle-aged woman who loves you and wants you to do what you want to do. I've been destroyed two or three times already. You wouldn't want to destroy me again, would you?

-I'd like to destroy you a few times in bed -he said.

-Yes. That's the good destruction. That's the way we're made to be destroyed

Ernest Hemingway, The snows of Kilimanjaro