Uncertain Balance

Hangs in the uncertain balance of proud time. -Robert Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, 1594

Stand in the Desert

I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read." -Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias, 1817

Desert Train

My heart is warm with the friends I make, And better friends I'll not be knowing; Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take, No matter where it's going. -Edna St. Vincent Millay, Travel, 1921

Purpose

As many arrows, loosed several ways, Fly to one mark; as many ways meet in one town; As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea; As many lines close in the dial's center; So may a thousand actions, once afoot, End in one purpose, and be all well borne Without defeat. -William Shakespeare, King Henry V, 1598-1600

Passion Kindled

And beauty, all concentrating like rays Into one focus, kindled from above; -George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan: Canto the Second, 1819