| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: had come. He was a Federal scout.
III
As Peyton Fahrquhar fell straight downward through the
bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead.
From this state he was awakened -- ages later, it seemed to
him -- by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat,
followed by a sense of suffocation. Keen, poignant agonies
seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fiber of
his body and limbs. These pains appeared to flash along well
defined lines of ramification and to beat with an
inconceivably rapid periodicity. They seemed like streams of
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: each other good-night, and found our carriages as soon as we chose.
LETTER: To W.D.B. and A.B.
LONDON, May 16, 1847
My dear Sons: My letters by this steamer will have very little
interest for you, as, from being in complete retirement, I have no
new things to related to you. . . . We have taken advantage of our
leisure to drive a little into the country, and on Tuesday I had a
pleasure of the highest order in driving down to Esher and passing a
quiet day with Lady Byron, the widow of the poet. She is an
intimate friend of Miss Murray, who has long wished us to see her
and desired her to name the day for our visit.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: a desire to remain with the other horses, and he broke out of a walk into a
trot. Carley could not keep him from trotting. Hence her state soon wore
into acute distress.
Her left ankle seemed broken. The stirrup was heavy, and as soon as she was
tired she could no longer keep its weight from drawing her foot in. The
inside of her right knee was as sore as a boil. Besides, she had other
pains, just as severe, and she stood momentarily in mortal dread of that
terrible stitch in her side. If it returned she knew she would fall off.
But, fortunately, just when she was growing weak and dizzy, the horses
ahead slowed to a walk on a descent. The road wound down into a wide deep
canyon. Carley had a respite from her severest pains. Never before had she
The Call of the Canyon |
