Time
Time is not an empty road through which all things merely pass. It changes what can happen, preserves what has left a trace, and gives contour to futures that have not yet arrived.
All four chapters are available in complete Chinese, English, French and Spanish reading editions.
Past, Future, and Becoming
The Jiazi tree, the mayfly, the bronze ring, N, and the Unfinished City. How the past leaves differences, and why the future can remain open without ever being blank.
The Present
A clock nineteen seconds behind, an unanswered call, a river that cannot wait. The flood can be calculated; responsibility cannot be delegated.
Cycles Without Repetition
Two versions of N reunite after sixty years apart. They share an origin, not every memory; a city must decide how to recognize lives left out of its history.
What Remains
Death, endings, memory, inheritance, and vow. What is carried forward after a form comes to an end.