| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Flame and Shadow by Sara Teasdale: "Is she unhappy?" you said --
But who has ever known
Another's heartbreak --
All he can know is his own;
And she seems hushed to me,
As hushed as though
Her heart were a hunter's fire
Smothered in snow.
The Silent Battle
(In Memory of J. W. T. Jr.)
He was a soldier in that fight
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: On the following day Modeste and Madame Dumay took Madame Mignon about
mid-day to a seat in the sun among the flowers. The blind woman turned
her wan and blighted face toward the ocean; she inhaled the odors of
the sea and took the hand of her daughter who remained beside her. The
mother hesitated between forgiveness and remonstrance ere she put the
important question; for she comprehended the girl's love and
recognized, as the pretended Canalis had done, that Modeste was
exceptional in nature.
"God grant that your father return in time! If he delays much longer
he will find none but you to love him. Modeste, promise me once more
never to leave him," she said in a fond maternal tone.
Modeste Mignon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: same atmosphere.
"My poor child!" said Madame Grandet, taking Eugenie's head and laying
it upon her bosom.
At these words the young girl raised her head, questioned her mother
by a look, and seemed to search out her inmost thought.
"Why send him to the Indies?" she said. "If he is unhappy, ought he
not to stay with us? Is he not our nearest relation?"
"Yes, my child, it seems natural; but your father has his reasons: we
must respect them."
The mother and daughter sat down in silence, the former upon her
raised seat, the latter in her little armchair, and both took up their
Eugenie Grandet |
