suspended by a hair, the clock as of today hangs round my neck: as of today, the stars, the sun, cockcrow and shadows are all done; whatever used to tell the time is mute and deaf and blind, and I find nature silent as a rock at the ticktock of law and clock.
--> A dragon was puling a bear into its terrible mouth. A courageous man went and rescued the bear. There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save anyone who cries out. Like Mercy itself, they run toward the screaming. And they can't be bought off. [. . .] Where lowland is, that's where water goes. All medicine wants is pain to cure. And don't just ask for one mercy. Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet. Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music. Push the hair out of your eyes. Blow the phlegm from your nose, and from your brain. Let the wind breeze through. Leave no residue in yourself from that bilious fever. Take the cure for impotence, that your manhood may shoot forth, and a hundred new beings come of your coming. Tear the binding from around the foot of your soul, and let it race around the track in front of the crowd. Loosen the knot of greed so tight on your neck. Accept your new good luck. Give your weakness to one who helps. Crying out loud and weeping are great resources. A nursing mother, all she does is wait to hear her child. Just a little beginning-whimper, and she's there. God created the child, that is, your wanting, so that it might cry out, so that milk might come. Cry out! Don't be stolid and silent with your pain. Lament! And let the milk of loving flow into you.
