“[Juan Speaking] "Sixth, know that there is hemlock near, there always is and it's always easy to drink it freely or have it forced down your throat. Now days, the hemlock is called differently: departing 'voluntarily' after withering harassment, 'termination for cause', character assassinations circulated without remorse, call it what you will, but they can and will and love to administer the hemlock. You must either strive to join the powers that be, and hand out the hemlock, or strive to avoid taking the hemlock they will be thrusting upon you; there is no middle ground, no defense, no recourse.”
“Hemlock in the cocktails, wasn't it? Something of that kind.”
“The way a crowShook down on meThe dust of snowFrom a hemlock treeHas given my heartA change of moodAnd saved some partOf a day I had rued.”
“It looked like something the Hemlock needed, or a piece of equipment a plumber had left behind. It looked like none of your business.”
“How often when they find a sage As sweet as Socrates or PlatoThey hand him hemlock for his wageOr bake him like a sweet potato!-Taking the Longer View”
“Along with rising and falling water, winter is the province of wind. When the sea-breath and mountain-roar bend the hemlocks of these hills, the birds hang on as best they can.”