| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: "To tell you the truth, monsieur," said the Marquis, in a broken
voice, "you place me in a strange dilemma. The motives of my conduct
were to have died with me. To reveal them I must disclose to you some
secret wounds, must place the honor of my family in your keeping, and
must speak of myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand.
I hope, monsieur, that it will all remain a secret between us. You
will, no doubt, be able to find in the formulas of the law one which
will allow of judgment being pronounced without any betrayal of my
confidences."
"So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le Marquis."
"Some time after my marriage," said M. d'Espard, "my wife having run
|
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 Phoenix and the Turtle by William Shakespeare: If what parts can so remain.
Whereupon it made this threne
To the phoenix and the dove,
Co-supreme and stars of love;
As chorus to their tragic scene.
THRENOS.
Beauty, truth, and rarity.
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclos'd in cinders lie.
Death is now the phoenix' nest;
And the turtle's loyal breast
|