Extract:
"Old Bulls: The seasons come and the seasons go,
"From the depths above to the depths below,
"And time will crumble our pride and grief
"As the waves wear even the hardest reef." (p. 200)
In other words, The Triumph Of Time, a James Blish title.
In the Tao Te Ching, water is like the highest good in three ways: it brings life to all, it seeks the lowest place for itself and it overcomes obstacles by patient pressure, not with a hammer.
Extract:
"Though we are they whom the waters bless,
"Our bones will sink into sunlessness.
"The race is old, but the world more so,
"And a day must come when the whales must go.
"The world forever cannot abide,
"But a day must come of the final tide."
"Earth abides..." - but not forever.
But how do the whales know this?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Strictly speaking, of course, whales know nothing about such abstractions as time. Anderson was writing for literary effect, a perfectly legitimate thing to do.
Ad astra! Sean
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