| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: a friend. It was never found in those things which to others
seemed things of importance. At the age of twelve she passed the
Matriculation of the Madras University, and awoke to find herself
famous throughout India. "Honestly," she said to me, "I was not
pleased; such things did not appeal to me." But here, in a
letter from Hyderabad, bidding one "share a March morning" with
her, there is, at the mere contact of the sun, this outburst:
"Come and share my exquisite March morning with me: this
sumptuous blaze of gold and sapphire sky; these scarlet lilies
that adorn the sunshine; the voluptuous scents of neem and
champak and serisha that beat upon the languid air with their
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: splintered wood. The last shriek died out under him in a faint
gurgle, and he had secured the relief of absolute silence.
He looked at the woman's face under him. A real woman! He knew
her. By all that is wonderful! Taminah! He jumped up ashamed
of his fury and stood perplexed, wiping his forehead. The girl
struggled to a kneeling posture and embraced his legs in a
frenzied prayer for mercy.
"Don't be afraid," he said, raising her. "I shall not hurt you.
Why do you come to my house in the night? And if you had to
come, why not go behind the curtain where the women sleep?"
"The place behind the curtain is empty," gasped Taminah, catching
Almayer's Folly |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: His victories, his triumphs, and his glories.
'O Jove!' quoth she, 'how much a fool was I,
To be of such a weak and silly mind 1016
To wail his death who lives and must not die
Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind;
For he being dead, with him is beauty slain,
And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again. 1020
'Fie, fie, fond love! thou art so full of fear
As one with treasure laden, hemm'd with thieves
Trifles, unwitnessed with eye or ear,
Thy coward heart with false bethinking grieves.' 1024
|
