| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: rule,-- though there are some strange exceptions... And here I may mention
that, in the province of Mutsu, there still exists the curious old custom
of calling the youngest daughter in a family Tekona,-- which quaint word,
obsolete elsewhere, signifies in Mutsu dialect a butterfly. In classic time
this word signified also a beautiful woman...
It is possible also that some weird Japanese beliefs about butterflies are
of Chinese derivation; but these beliefs might be older than China herself.
The most interesting one, I think, is that the soul of a living person may
wander about in the form of a butterfly. Some pretty fancies have been
evolved out of this belief,-- such as the notion that if a butterfly enters
your guest-room and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: is an old house, restored no doubt under Francis I., and built of
bricks held together by a few courses of masonry. That it is
substantial seems proved by the shape of its front wall, not
uncommonly seen in some parts of Paris. It bellies, so to speak, in a
manner caused by the protuberance of its first floor, crushed under
the weight of the second and third, but upheld by the strong wall of
the ground floor. At first sight it would seem as though the piers
between the windows, though strengthened by the stone mullions, must
give way, but the observer presently perceives that, as in the tower
at Bologna, the old bricks and old time-eaten stones of this house
persistently preserve their centre of gravity.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rivers to the Sea by Sara Teasdale: Ah, never with a throat that aches with song,
Beneath the white uncaring sky of spring,
Shall I go forth to hide awhile from Love
The quiver and the crying of my heart.
Still I remember how I strove to flee
The love-note of the birds, and bowed my head
RIVERS TO THE SEA
To hurry faster, but upon the ground
I saw two wingèd shadows side by side,
And all the world's spring passion stifled me.
Ah, Love there is no fleeing from thy might,
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