| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: urgently necessary it is that you should compromise him with himself
and with God; short of that you will never bring him to the point.'--
'Is this a dream?' said she, pushing her hair from her forehead,
fifteen years before Malibran, with the gesture which Malibran has
made so famous.--'Come, do not be childish, my angel,' said I, trying
to take her hands; but she folded them before her with a little
prudish and indignant mein.--'Marry him, you have my permission,' said
I, replying to this gesture by using the formal /vous/ instead of
/tu/. 'Nay, better, I beg you to do so.'--'But,' cried she, falling at
my knees, 'there is some horrible mistake; I love no one in the world
but you; you may demand any proofs you please.'--'Rise, my dear,' said
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: the mizzen-mast and a blanket over his legs, re-
mained perfectly still, but I don't suppose he
closed his eyes for a moment. That embodiment
of jauntiness, Frenchy, still under the delusion that
there was a "jump" left in him, had insisted on
joining us; but mindful of discipline, had laid him-
self down as far on the forepart of the poop as he
could get, alongside the bucket-rack.
And I steered, too tired for anxiety, too tired for
connected thought. I had moments of grim ex-
ultation and then my heart would sink awfully
The Shadow Line |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Poems by T. S. Eliot: The sable presbyters approach
The avenue of penitence;
The young are red and pustular
Clutching piaculative pence.
Under the penitential gates
Sustained by staring Seraphim
Where the souls of the devout
Burn invisible and dim.
Along the garden-wall the bees
With hairy bellies pass between
The staminate and pistilate,
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