| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: carpet on it, whereof the ground-vine tendrils formed the warp and
woof, and the living flowers the figures. All the trees, with all
their laden branches; all the shrubs, and ferns, and grasses; the
message-carrying air; all these unceasingly were active. Through the
lacings of the leaves, the great sun seemed a flying shuttle weaving
the unwearied verdure. Oh, busy weaver! unseen weaver!--pause!--one
word!--whither flows the fabric? what palace may it deck? wherefore
all these ceaseless toilings? Speak, weaver!--stay thy hand!--but
one single word with thee! Nay--the shuttle flies--the figures float
from forth the loom; the freshet-rushing carpet for ever slides
away. The weaver-god, he weaves; and by that weaving is he deafened,
Moby Dick |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: And strangely clear, and deeply dyed with light,
The trees stood straight against a paling sky,
With Venus burning lamp-like in the west.
I walked alone amid a thousand flowers,
That drooped their heads and drowsed beneath the dew,
And all my thoughts were quieted to sleep.
Behind me, on the walk, I heard a step --
I did not know my heart could tell his tread,
I did not know I loved him till that hour.
Within my breast I felt a wild, sick pain,
The garden reeled a little, I was weak,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: age--the Athenian, who takes his own father as a starting-point for
the contempt he pours upon grey hairs? When will he pay as strict an
attention to the body, who is not content with neglecting a good
habit,[22] but laughs to scorn those who are careful in this matter?
When shall we Athenians so obey our magistrates--we who take a pride,
as it were, in despising authority? When, once more, shall we be
united as a people--we who, instead of combining to promote common
interests, delight in blackening each other's characters,[23] envying
one another more than we envy all the world besides; and--which is our
worst failing--who, in private and public intercourse alike, are torn
by dissension and are caught in a maze of litigation, and prefer to
The Memorabilia |
