"The sound of an approaching train awoke him, and he started to his feet, remembering only his resolution, and afraid lest he should be too late. He stood watching the approaching locomotive, his teeth chattering, his lips drawn away from them in a frightened smile; once or twice he glanced nervously sidewise, as though he were being watched. When the right moment came, he jumped. As he fell, the folly of his haste occurred to him with merciless clearness, the vastness of what he had left undone. There flashed through his brain, clearer than ever before, the blue of Adriatic water, the yellow of Algerian sands....and Paul dropped back into the immense design of things."
from "Paul's Case: A Study in Temperament" by Willa Cather, one of my favorite short stories. Are short stories more effective as literature than novels? They are for me - due primarily to a deficit of reading persistence.
This one's a half-hour read, click above if so inclined.
I dig the last phrase: back into the immense design of things.
"What is that, some sort of Eastern thing?" - The Dude
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