"Deep-embedded memories stirred one day
Within his heart, and with real tears
He wrote, and marked the time with sighs!
Now then, you will see men love
As in real life they love, and you will see
True hatred and its bitter fruit. And you will hear
Shouts both of rage and grief, and cynical laughter."
from the prologue of Leoncavallo's
I Pagliacci
The idea of bitter fruit has connotations of time. To bear fruit, a plant has to go through the process of seedling and flowering. However, the purpose of authorship is beyond simply telling a version of events as it happens; authorship compresses time within the confinements of narrative, but the essence of the inspiration behind the narrative is still preserved.