- published: 19 Nov 2015
- views: 40118
The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the directions of north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials: N, E, S, W. East and west are at right angles to north and south, with east being in the direction of rotation and west being directly opposite. Intermediate points between the four cardinal directions form the points of the compass. The intermediate (intercardinal, or ordinal) directions are north-east (NE), south-east (SE), south-west (SW), and north-west (NW).
On Earth, upright observers facing north will have south behind them, east on their right, and west on their left. Most devices and methods for orientation therefore operate by finding north first, although any other direction is equally valid, if it can be reliably located. Several of these devices and methods are described below.
I split the atom of one second
Choosing history's lathe
Each word summons now the next
A master to his slave
Countless links
Within some silent chain
And time becomes the sediment that drifts to algae
Divorced from comets' trains
In the East, a reflection
Of the Western sunset
North, South, pole to pole
Turn back in regret
And to the East I might stumble
To the West I would crawl
And if North is the winter
Then South is the fall
And if I had my way, I'd make the clock rewind
I'd live again that moment, though I know I'll never find
The future that I missed, a parallel line
Where the world would be so bright that it could make us all go blind
And if I had my day, there's so much I'd reclaim
The sanctity of motion, the neverending rain
The cardinal directions, all pointing to the past
Where realities converge, and for a moment, we're the same
And magnets spin the compass
In an embryonic flame
Somewhere is the promise
Of an uncharted trail
With seven hundred branching limbs
And seven hundred ways to fail
To the East, a reflection
Of the new moon in the West
Her timeless watch is quiet
Over tides of her unrest
To the North is the current
Of a man breathing out
Giving birth to the breeze
To be inhaled in the South
And if I had my way, I'd make the clock rewind
I'd live again that moment, though I know I'll never find
The future that I missed, a parallel line
Where the world would be so bright that it could make us all go blind
And if I had my day, there's so much I'd reclaim
The sanctity of motion, the neverending rain
The cardinal directions, all pointing to the past
Where realities converge, and for a moment, we're the same
Same as always
Same as always
And if I had my way, I'd make the clock rewind
I'd live again that moment, though I know I'll never find
The future that I missed, a parallel line
Where the world would be so bright that it could make us all go blind
And if I had my day, there's so much I'd reclaim
The sanctity of motion, the neverending rain
The cardinal directions, all pointing to the past