Chapter 1 

I watched the Earth turn and each slow, wrenching bend of the horizon revealed a new layer of existence that I could perceive. Now this wandering people, now that. Now this imperialism, now that one. Now the mountains were breeched, now the deserts were crossed and everyone had a boat or ship. But now I knew it went on for an unspeakable period of time and the ten thousand years that weighted so heavily on the consciousness of men and women was a mere blink of the eye. Poets had seen this from the beginning but it created a lot of laziness in the people or a wild abandonment among the ambitious. They were at a perpetual sort of beginning, a stutter in the vast scheme of things. It was not a matter of thinking on the next ten thousand years and what would transpire from this point onward. That was an academic exercise fully good and healthy. It was more to bring the next ten thousand years to the next few moments and see what happened. That was the greater challenge.

David Eide
January 24, 2014