In the Next Life, Canto III, stanzas 153-159

While Darna knew that Ciral was obsessed,
she mostly was inclined to let it slide.
She too was rather quick to be impressed,
and Ciral never mentioned homicide.

I’m sure she wondered why he liked to weave
and to experiment with sorts of rope.
She never followed him, though, when he’d leave,
nor asked him what he did along the slope.

But did he ask himself, do you suppose,
or did he just conveniently forget
about the presence, there among his foes,
of those to whom he owed a vital debt?

Might he have reasoned that a rendered deed
without a contract merits no response?
While possible that Darna had decreed
that to be true, let’s leave it for the nonce.

As well the likelihood that he had cut
what loyalty he’d shown toward his kin.
He’d learned why he should lose those feelings, but
it took some time for all that to sink in.

Yes, he had a vindictive attitude,
but given who he was, I think we’ll find
at first, at least, his list did not include
all seven dozen souls he left behind.

I think his plan, though based on blanket hate,
had a provision for his family.
Before he changed his mind about their fate,
the process was in place to set them free.

While possible: Possible, but unlikely. Legally this may be true, but I’ve seen no indication that Objectivists deny a moral obligation to repay that kind of favor.

©2010 Louis A. Merrimac