| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: shouting and trampling of men, the crashing of steel upon helmets, the
plunging of slain in the flood. And to left and right of him, in the pauses
of his playing, he could hear voices murmuring praise: "How marvelous an
artist!" -- "Never in our own province was playing heard like this!" --
"Not in all the empire is there another singer like Hoichi!" Then fresh
courage came to him, and he played and sang yet better than before; and a
hush of wonder deepened about him. But when at last he came to tell the
fate of the fair and helpless,-- the piteous perishing of the women and
children,-- and the death-leap of Nii-no-Ama, with the imperial infant in
her arms,-- then all the listeners uttered together one long, long
shuddering cry of anguish; and thereafter they wept and wailed so loudly
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: Bless to us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these
must be taken, brace us to play the man under affliction. Be with
our friends, be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest; if any
awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day
returns, return to us, our sun and comforter, and call us up with
morning faces and with morning hearts - eager to labour - eager to
be happy, if happiness shall be our portion - and if the day be
marked for sorrow, strong to endure it.
We thank Thee and praise Thee; and in the words of him to whom this
day is sacred, close our oblation.
FOR SELF-BLAME
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: crackled under the third blow. Myles had one flashing glimpse of
an awful face, and then the saddle was empty.
Then, as he held tight to the horse, panting, dizzy, sick to
death, he felt the hot blood gushing from his side, filling his
body armor, and staining the ground upon which he stood. Still he
held tightly to the saddle-bow of the fallen man's horse until,
through his glimmering sight, he saw the Marshal, the Lieutenant,
and the attendants gather around him. He heard the Marshal ask
him, in a voice that sounded faint and distant, if he was
dangerously wounded. He did not answer, and one of the
attendants, leaping from his horse, opened the umbril of his
Men of Iron |
