2 Aban 1404
Quatrain 61 of 75
“Then said another—"Surely not in vain
My substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again."”
Reflection · Autumn 1404
The pot's argument in autumn has its full force and its full futility simultaneously. Surely not in vain — but the autumn evidence is equivocal. He who subtly wrought me into Shape should not, the pot argues, stamp me back. The argument has a logic and the logic is sound and it does not prevent the stamping.
My substance from the common Earth was ta'en — and it will be returned. The taking was real. The working into shape was real. The return is also real. The pot's argument is beautiful and exactly wrong: being worked into shape is not an insurance against being worked back out of it.