potential's barometer
live life dangerously, full of zest. build worlds on the slopes of Vesuvius! cross the Rubicon! bleed at Borodino!
It is the only way to know what you had in the first place, what was within —your potential.
only at the tail end of life will you see what lay dormant within. potential can only be accurately measured in retrospect.
and this on the grand condition, that you gave it you all, left it all on the field.
else, in the years leading to death, develop a galloping neurosis, a cruel attitude, bitter.
at death, a withering, slow prick, with a gnawing ache, from the impossibility of turning back time.
what was I capable of? don't leave with wasted potential, I beg.
- Ian Chan