The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: those who were 'sullen in the sweet air,' saying for ever and ever
through their sighs -
'Tristi fummo
Nell aer dolce che dal sol s'allegra.'
I knew the church condemned ACCIDIA, but the whole idea seemed to
me quite fantastic, just the sort of sin, I fancied, a priest who
knew nothing about real life would invent. Nor could I understand
how Dante, who says that 'sorrow remarries us to God,' could have
been so harsh to those who were enamoured of melancholy, if any
such there really were. I had no idea that some day this would
become to me one of the greatest temptations of my life.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: 'Yes,' said the mother, 'if only someone would come who would have
her.' At length a man came from a distance and wooed her, who was
called Hans; but he stipulated that Clever Elsie should be really
smart. 'Oh,' said the father, 'she has plenty of good sense'; and the
mother said: 'Oh, she can see the wind coming up the street, and hear
the flies coughing.' 'Well,' said Hans, 'if she is not really smart, I
won't have her.' When they were sitting at dinner and had eaten, the
mother said: 'Elsie, go into the cellar and fetch some beer.' Then
Clever Elsie took the pitcher from the wall, went into the cellar, and
tapped the lid briskly as she went, so that the time might not appear
long. When she was below she fetched herself a chair, and set it
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Like unto shipwrecked Paul on Melita's desolate sea-shore.
Thus he approached the place where Evangeline sat with her
father,
And in the flickering light beheld the face of the old man,
Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either thought or
emotion,
E'en as the face of a clock from which the hands have been taken.
Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caresses to cheer him,
Vainly offered him food; yet he moved not, he looked not, he
spake not
But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the flickering
|