| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: slep' in this place, after the electrics went out I had a token.
My oil lamp was full of oil, but it kep' goin' out, do what I
would. Minute I shet my eyes, out that lamp 'd go. There ain't
no surer token of death. The Bible sez, LET YER LIGHT SHINE!
When a hand you can't see puts yer light out, it means death,
sure."
The old man's voice was full of conviction. In spite of myself I
had a chilly sensation in the small of my back, and I left him
mumbling over his dishes. Later on I heard a crash from the
pantry, and Liddy reported that Beulah, who is coal black, had
darted in front of Thomas just as he picked up a tray of dishes;
The Circular Staircase |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll: poem. Humpty-Dumpty's theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a
portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all.
For instance, take the two words "fuming" and "furious." Make up your
mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say
first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so
little towards "fuming," you will say "fuming-furious;" if they turn, by even
a hair's breadth, towards "furious," you will say "furious-fuming;" but if you
have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say "frumious."
Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-known words--
"Under which king, Bezonian? Speak or die!"
Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but
The Hunting of the Snark |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Poems of William Blake by William Blake: THEL
I
The daughters of Mne Seraphim led round their sunny flocks,
All but the youngest: she in paleness sought the secret air.
To fade away like morning beauty from her mortal day:
Down by the river of Adona her soft voice is heard;
And thus her gentle lamentation falls like morning dew.
O life of this our spring! why fades the lotus of the water?
Why fade these children of the spring? born but to smile & fall.
Ah! Thel is like a watry bow, and like a parting cloud,
Like a reflection in a glass: like shadows in the water
Poems of William Blake |
