| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: of tall racks, built of saplings and intended for the drying of
clothes. Two large tents gleamed white among the trees.
About the drying-fire were gathered thirty-odd men. Some were half-
reclining before the blaze; others sat in rows on logs drawn close
for the purpose; still others squatted like Indians on their heels,
their hands thrown forward to keep the balance. Nearly all were
smoking pipes.
Every age was represented in this group, but young men predominated.
All wore woollen trousers stuffed into leather boots reaching just
to the knee. These boots were armed on the soles with rows of
formidable sharp spikes or caulks, a half and sometimes even three
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: (Where helice, forever, as she wheels,
Sparkles a mother's fondness on her son)
Stood in mute wonder 'mid the works of Rome,
When to their view the Lateran arose
In greatness more than earthly; I, who then
From human to divine had past, from time
Unto eternity, and out of Florence
To justice and to truth, how might I choose
But marvel too? 'Twixt gladness and amaze,
In sooth no will had I to utter aught,
Or hear. And, as a pilgrim, when he rests
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
