| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: And gravely entreated Rahero; and for all that could fight or sing,
And claimed a name in the land, had fitting phrases of praise;
But with all who were well-descended he spoke of the ancient days.
And "'Tis true," said he, "that in Paea the victual rots on the ground;
But, friends, your number is many; and pigs must be hunted and found,
And the lads troop to the mountains to bring the feis down,
And around the bowls of the kava cluster the maids of the town.
So, for to-night, sleep here; but king, common, and priest
To-morrow, in order due, shall sit with me in the feast."
Sleepless the live-long night, Hiopa's followers toiled.
The pigs screamed and were slaughtered; the spars of the guest-house oiled,
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: when their lords' clarions rested! No wonder that man added this
bird to his tame stock -- to say nothing of the eggs and drumsticks.
To walk in a winter morning in a wood where these birds abounded,
their native woods, and hear the wild cockerels crow on the trees,
clear and shrill for miles over the resounding earth, drowning the
feebler notes of other birds -- think of it! It would put nations
on the alert. Who would not be early to rise, and rise earlier and
earlier every successive day of his life, till he became unspeakably
healthy, wealthy, and wise? This foreign bird's note is celebrated
by the poets of all countries along with the notes of their native
songsters. All climates agree with brave Chanticleer. He is more
Walden |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: Anne, clinging desperately to her precarious foothold, saw their
flying forms and heard their shrieks. Help would soon come, but
meanwhile her position was a very uncomfortable one.
The minutes passed by, each seeming an hour to the unfortunate
lily maid. Why didn't somebody come? Where had the girls gone?
Suppose they had fainted, one and all! Suppose nobody ever came!
Suppose she grew so tired and cramped that she could hold on no
longer! Anne looked at the wicked green depths below her,
wavering with long, oily shadows, and shivered. Her imagination
began to suggest all manner of gruesome possibilities to her.
Then, just as she thought she really could not endure the ache in
Anne of Green Gables |
