| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: I said, "He loves me, loves me not,"
And oh, my heart beat fast,
The flower was kind, it let me say
"He loves me," last.
I kissed the little leafless stem,
But oh, my poor heart knew
The words the flower had said to me,
They were not true.
VII
I sent my love a letter,
And if he loves me not,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: themselves would life be worth living if the offerings of a villain
rather than of a righteous man found favour in the sight of Heaven.
His belief was that the joy of the gods is greater in proportion to
the holiness of the giver, and he was ever an admirer of that line of
Hesiod which says,
According to thine ability do sacrifice to the immortal gods.[4]
[4] Hesiod, "Works and Days," 336. See "Anab." III. ii. 9.
"Yes," he would say, "in our dealings with friends and strangers
alike, and in reference to the demands of life in general, there is no
better motto for a man than that: 'let a man do according to his
ability.'"
The Memorabilia |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: the bitterest kind, because proceeding from a cause which no
time can remove. No arguments shall be wanting on my part
that can alleviate so severe a misfortune-- or that may comfort
you, under a circumstance that must be of all others the most
afflicting to a parent's mind. The death of your daughter would
have been a blessing in comparison of this. And it is the more
to be lamented, because there is reason to suppose as my dear
Charlotte informs me, that this licentiousness of behaviour in
your daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence;
though, at the same time, for the consolation of yourself and
Mrs. Bennet, I am inclined to think that her own disposition
Pride and Prejudice |
