
“Like ice beneath the sun's rays — to such poverty did he fall…his fortune melted to water.”
Book III, ch. 5.
The Japanese Family Storehouse (1688)
Act V, scene I. — (Samia).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 340.
La Calandria (c. 1507)
La donna è sopra la pecunia, come il sol sopra il ghiaccio, che del continue lo strugge e consume.
La Calandria (c. 1507)
“Like ice beneath the sun's rays — to such poverty did he fall…his fortune melted to water.”
Book III, ch. 5.
The Japanese Family Storehouse (1688)
Book I : The Beginnings, Ch. V : The Baptism Of The Penguins
Penguin Island (1908)
Context: Touched by their attention, the holy man taught them the Gospel.
"Inhabitants of this island, the earthly day that has just risen over your rocks is the image of the heavenly day that rises in your souls. For I bring you the inner light; I bring you the light and heat of the soul. Just as the sun melts the ice of your mountains so Jesus Christ will melt the ice of your hearts."
Thus the old man spoke. As everywhere throughout nature voice calls to voice, as all which breathes in the light of day loves alternate strains, these penguins answered the old man by the sounds of their throats. And their voices were soft, for it was the season of their loves.
Here Comes the Sun (1969)
Lyrics
“As the rising sun melts thinly frozen ice, so the Japanese Army is overcoming Chinese troops.”
1939. Quoted in "Objective: Limited" - "Time Magazine" article - December 20, 1943
Variant: Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
“Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting.”
The Figure a Poem Makes (1939)
Context: Originality and initiative are what I ask for my country. For myself the originality need be no more than the freshness of a poem run in the way I have described: from delight to wisdom. The figure is the same as for love. Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting. A poem may be worked over once it is in being, but may not be worried into being. Its most precious quality will remain its having run itself and carried away the poet with it. Read it a hundred times: it will forever keep its freshness as a petal keeps its fragrance. It can never lose its sense of a meaning that once unfolded by surprise as it went.
Source: Letter to the abbess of Shinryu-ji https://sites.google.com/site/esabsnichtenglisch/bassui-tokusho-the-letters
“Life is only a flicker of melted ice.”
“Rain of the Absolute,” p. 25
The Sun Watches the Sun (1999), Sequence: “Skywalking”
“What a sea
Of melting ice I walk on!”
The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act III, scene iii.