If

IF:

1. A tightrope that stretches from But to But.
2. A small, magical, automatic hinge that can swing the doors of Chance in any direction.
3. A fatality endowed with free will.
4. The verbal sword of Damocles.
5. A dizzy precipice at the end of every declarative sentence.
6. A pole around which the future and the past play hide-and-seek.
7. The vorspiel to the piker's threnody. E. g. (Scene: a narrow bridge.): "Let me pass, fellow! my name is Must, and I desire to cross." If (standing in the middle of the bridge): "You damn fool, don't you see I am the end of the bridge? There is no Must nor Might that can go beyond me."