| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: I find myself in command of you, I have but one prayer--that your
lives may be spared no less than mine; and as for the necessaries of
existence, perhaps it would astonish you if I said I would rather you
should have them than I. Yet by the gods I swear I would welcome two
days' starvation in order to spare you one. Was not my door open in
old days to every comer? Open again it shall stand now; and so it
shall be; where your own board overflows, you shall look in and mark
the luxury of your general; but if at other times you see him bearing
up against cold and heat and sleepless nights, you must apply the
lesson to yourselves and study to endure those evils. I do not bid you
do aught of this for self-mortification's sake, but that you may
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Who put youse jerry to all dat?" inquired the first tramp,
skeptically.
"I was in de still wit 'im--he croaked some guy. He's a
lifer. On de way to de pen he pushes dis dick off'n de rattler
an' makes his get-away. Dat peter-boy we meets at Quincy
slips me an earful about him. Here's w'ere we draws down de
five hundred if we're cagey."
"Whaddaya mean, cagey?"
"Why we leaves 'em alone an' goes to de nex' farm an' calls
up K. C. an' tips off de dicks, see?"
"Youse don't tink we'll get any o' dat five hun, do youse,
The Mucker |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: Go down behind my neighbor's poplar branches,--
Just where you used to sit,--I'm sure you'd come.
This year, they say, the springtime will be early.
XI. CONVERSATION: UNDERTONES
What shall we talk of? Li Po? Hokusai?
You narrow your long dark eyes to fascinate me;
You smile a little. . . .Outside, the night goes by.
I walk alone in a forest of ghostly trees . . .
Your pale hands rest palm downwards on your knees.
'These lines--converging, they suggest such distance!
The soul is drawn away, beyond horizons.
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