| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: was quite in the dark for another minute, and then my box began
to rise so high, that I could see light from the tops of the
windows. I now perceived I was fallen into the sea. My box, by
the weight of my body, the goods that were in, and the broad
plates of iron fixed for strength at the four corners of the top
and bottom, floated about five feet deep in water. I did then,
and do now suppose, that the eagle which flew away with my box
was pursued by two or three others, and forced to let me drop,
while he defended himself against the rest, who hoped to share in
the prey. The plates of iron fastened at the bottom of the box
(for those were the strongest) preserved the balance while it
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: to Lac Tchitagama, and found that they had stolen all its water to
float their logs down the Lake of the Bear. The poor little river
was as dry as a theological novel. There was nothing left of it
except the bed and the bones; it was like a Connecticut stream in
the middle of August. All its pretty secrets were laid bare; all
its music was hushed. The pools that lingered among the rocks
seemed like big tears; and the voice of the forlorn rivulets that
trickled in here and there, seeking the parent stream, was a voice
of weeping and complaint.
For us the loss meant a hard day's work, scrambling over slippery
stones, and splashing through puddles, and forcing a way through
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rivers to the Sea by Sara Teasdale: Her most becoming hat and gown.
But oh, the shy and eager thoughts
That hide and will not get them dressed,
Why is it that they always seem
So much more lovely than the rest?
TO DICK, ON HIS SIXTH BIRTHDAY
Tho' I am very old and wise,
And you are neither wise nor old,
When I look far into your eyes,
I know things I was never told:
I know how flame must strain and fret
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