| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: And they would stand auspicious to the hour,
Even there he starts:--quoth he, 'I must de-flower;
The powers to whom I pray abhor this fact,
How can they then assist me in the act?
'Then Love and Fortune be my gods, my guide!
My will is back'd with resolution:
Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried,
The blackest sin is clear'd with absolution;
Against love's fire fear's frost hath dissolution.
The eye of heaven is out, and misty night
Covers the shame that follows sweet delight.'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: is one not probable to be forgotten."
"In the year you refer to, Mr. Macgregor, I was getting skelped in the
parish school," said I.
"So young!" cries he. "Ah, then, you will never be able to think what
this meeting is to me. In the hour of my adversity, and here in the
house of my enemy, to meet in with the blood of an old brother-in-arms
- it heartens me, Mr. Balfour, like the skirting of the highland pipes!
Sir, this is a sad look back that many of us have to make: some with
falling tears. I have lived in my own country like a king; my sword,
my mountains, and the faith of my friends and kinsmen sufficed for me.
Now I lie in a stinking dungeon; and do you know, Mr. Balfour," he went
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: of prophecy was yet to come.
It so happened that a native-born son of the valley, many years
before, had enlisted as a soldier, and, after a great deal of
hard fighting, had now become an illustrious commander. Whatever
he may be called in history, he was known in camps and on the
battle-field under the nickname of Old Blood-and-Thunder. This
war-worn veteran being now infirm with age and wounds, and weary
of the turmoil of a military life, and of the roll of the drum
and the clangor of the trumpet, that had so long been ringing in
his ears, had lately signified a purpose of returning to his
native valley, hoping to find repose where he remembered to have
The Snow Image |
