| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Koran: seven lean devoured; and the seven green ears of corn and others
dry. Haply I may go back to the men, haply they then may know!'
He said, 'Ye shall sow for seven years, as is your wont; but what ye
reap, let it remain in the ear, except a little whereof ye shall
eat. Then there shall come after that seven severe (years) which shall
devour what ye have put by before for them, save a little of what ye
shall preserve. Then there will come after that a year in which men
shall have rain and in which they shall press.'
Then said the king, 'Bring him to me.'
And when the messenger came to him, he said, Go back to thy lord,
and ask him, "What meant the women who cut their hands? Verily, my
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Georgics by Virgil: Spring to like verdure; thus alone survives
The bare wild olive with its bitter leaves.
Let none persuade thee, howso weighty-wise,
To stir the soil when stiff with Boreas' breath.
Then ice-bound winter locks the fields, nor lets
The young plant fix its frozen root to earth.
Best sow your vineyards when in blushing Spring
Comes the white bird long-bodied snakes abhor,
Or on the eve of autumn's earliest frost,
Ere the swift sun-steeds touch the wintry Signs,
While summer is departing. Spring it is
Georgics |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: way.
The next morning before nine o'clock we were told that Mr. Rogers,
the poet, was downstairs. I could not imagine what had brought him
out so early, but found that Moore, the poet, had come to town and
would stay but a day, and we must go that very morning and breakfast
with him at ten o'clock. We went and found a delightful circle. I
sat between Moore and Rogers, who was in his very best humor. Moore
is but a wreck, but most a interesting one.
LETTER: To Mr. and Mrs. I.P.D.
Nuneham Park, July 27, 1847
My dear Uncle and Aunt: . . . I must go back to the day when my
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