Then it came back to him, in a moment of painful clarity.

A union, she realized with painful clarity, that would never take place.

His panic was only hours old, and he remembered every moment of it with painful clarity.

A truth came clear to me in painful clarity.

The words in the diary came back to her with painful clarity.

Uncle Simon's words came back to him with painful clarity.

Their names brought them to mind with almost painful clarity.

His senses felt heightened, as he saw everything with an almost painful clarity.

He'd never seen it before, but now he saw it in painful clarity.

It had happened a handful of times in his long career and the admiral remembered each one with a painful clarity.