You came to climb,And you endure --So turn your face to the rock of Time,Make one more foothold sure!

You came to climb,
And you endure --
So turn your face to the rock of Time,
Make one more foothold sure!

Time, the dark whale, spouts blithely from his spiracle
A jet of memory that makes glad the sun.

One speck within vast star-space lyingAwoke, arose, resumed its clothing,And crawled another day toward dying.

Time, the dark whale, spouts blithely from his spiracleA jet of memory that makes glad the sun.

One of the themes is how is it we cope with trials and tribulations? How do we endure struggles and come out differently? ... The book has been criticized for being messy, and it is messy in many ways, with loose ends and stories that don't tie up neatly. But why do we need to impose expectations?