| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Georgics by Virgil: Or at full cribs their lives' sweet breath resign;
Hence on the fawning dog comes madness, hence
Racks the sick swine a gasping cough that chokes
With swelling at the jaws: the conquering steed,
Uncrowned of effort and heedless of the sward,
Faints, turns him from the springs, and paws the earth
With ceaseless hoof: low droop his ears, wherefrom
Bursts fitful sweat, a sweat that waxes cold
Upon the dying beast; the skin is dry,
And rigidly repels the handler's touch.
These earlier signs they give that presage doom.
Georgics |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: For she doth welcome daylight with her ditty,
And drives away dark dismal-dreaming night:
The night so pack'd, I post unto my pretty;
Heart hath his hope, and eyes their wished sight;
Sorrow changed to solace, solace mix'd with sorrow;
For why, she sigh'd and bade me come tomorrow.
Were I with her, the night would post too soon;
But now are minutes added to the hours;
To spite me now, each minute seems a moon;
Yet not for me, shine sun to succour flowers!
Pack night, peep day; good day, of night now borrow:
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: river. Their confluence was above the town a good two miles; it
looked but a few paces from up here, while each side the river
straggled the margin cottonwoods, like thin borders along a
garden walk. Over all this map hung silence like a harmony,
tremendous yet serene.
"How beautiful! how I love it!" whispered the girl" But, oh, how
big it is!" And she leaned against her lover for an instant. It
was her spirit seeking shelter. To-day, this vast beauty, this
primal calm, had in it for her something almost of dread. The
small, comfortable, green hills of home rose before her. She
closed her eyes and saw Vermont. a village street, and the
The Virginian |
