Wednesday, May 26, 2004
'Then I thought of Nella and the children, with sudden realisation as though I had just seen myself, in a blinding light that exposed me. If it shocked me to see myself, it shocked me no less to see my danger. It was like a kind of shadow of myself, that moved with me constantly, but always apart from me; I knew it was there, but I had known it so long that it did not trouble me, so long as it stayed apart. But when the mad sickness came on me, it would suddenly move nearer to me, and I knew it would strike me down if it could, and I did not care. It was only when the sickness had passed that I saw how terrible was by danger, and how terrible too my sickness, that when it was on me my wife and children could be struck down, and I would not care.
I was suddenly filled with love for them, and longed to see them again and to touch them, as soon as I could. I put on my cap and went hurrying down the kloof after the others.'
(Alan Paton, from 'Too Late the Phalarope')
I was suddenly filled with love for them, and longed to see them again and to touch them, as soon as I could. I put on my cap and went hurrying down the kloof after the others.'
(Alan Paton, from 'Too Late the Phalarope')
