| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: "And it's easy to be crazy when there's everything to lose."
"If at last you have a notion that I mean what I am saying,
Do I seem to tell you nothing when I tell you I shall try?
If you save me, and I lose him -- I don't know -- it won't much matter.
I dare say that I've lied enough, but now I do not lie."
"Do you fancy me the one man who has waited and said nothing
While a wife has dragged an old infatuation from a tomb?
Give the thing a little air and it will vanish into ashes.
There you are -- piff! presto!"
"When I came into this room,
It seemed as if I saw the place, and you there at your table,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: rather should you be glad to accede to my reasonable
request that you be present, thus sharing the guilt
with me. Why should I bear it all?"
The younger man scowled, but he advanced toward
the locked door, and as it swung in upon its hinges,
he entered the room beyond at the side of Vas Kor.
Across the chamber the girl, hearing them enter, rose
to her feet and faced them. Under the soft copper of her
skin she blanched just a trifle; but her eyes were brave
and level, and the haughty tilt of her firm little chin was
eloquent of loathing and contempt.
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
