Narrative
A story reaches backward in time,
in the making, in the reading,
not the telling.
Whether events unfold ahead
in strict chronological order
or zigzag, shifting points of view,
flashing back,
their meaning, their significance
can only be known
at the end (if then).
Early events (no matter how
pregnant with dramatic irony)
cannot be understood;
the consequence of choices
can never be foreseen,
even by omniscient third persons,
much less by curious readers or
the characters themselves.
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