| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: We are weary, my heart, we are weary, so long we have borne
The heavy loved burden of dreams that are dead, let us rest,
Let us scatter their ashes away, for a while let us mourn;
We will rest, O my heart, till the shadows are gray in the west.
But soon we must rise, O my heart, we must wander again
Into the war of the world and the strife of the throng;
Let us rise, O my heart, let us gather the dreams that remain,
We will conquer the sorrow of life with the sorrow of song.
PAST AND FUTURE
THE NEW HATH COME AND NOW THE OLD RETIRES:
And so the past becomes a mountain-cell,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: any one else. And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage,
formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a
long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo
between more extensive performances. I take it that this part of the
bill must have run something like this:
"GRAND CONTESTED ELECTION FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES.
"WHALING VOYAGE BY ONE ISHMAEL.
"BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN."
Though I cannot tell why it was exactly that those stage managers,
the Fates, put me down for this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when
others were set down for magnificent parts in high tragedies, and
Moby Dick |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: meadow from the blacks and then at full speed bore down
upon the savages. So quickly the plane came that Usanga's
men had no time to escape it after they realized its menace.
It touched the ground just as it struck among them and mowed
through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction. When
it came to rest at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped
quickly to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant,
and as he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors had
stood, ready to defend himself if necessary, but there was
none there to oppose him. Dead and dying they lay strewn
for fifty feet along the turf.
Tarzan the Untamed |
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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: more cause to dread the sting of a nettle than the dagger which is
fatal to Dragon-flies. The same virus acts differently upon this
organism and that, is formidable here and quite mild there. What
kills the insect may easily be harmless to us. Let us not,
however, generalize too far. The Narbonne Lycosa, that other
enthusiastic insect-huntress, would make us pay clearly if we
attempted to take liberties with her.
It is not uninteresting to watch the Epeira at dinner. I light
upon one, the Banded Epeira, at the moment, about three o'clock in
the afternoon, when she has captured a Locust. Planted in the
centre of the web, on her resting-floor, she attacks the venison at
The Life of the Spider |
