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Once soft, suspicious
Once heavenly, harsh
Once a dream, a danger
Now an elusive stash to relegate our life to

To what/who/where does this refer to?

Hints

Blurs or darkens vision.

Once material, now immaterial

Once in the air, now on the web

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  • $\begingroup$ Can I check whether you actually mean "relegate" rather than, say, "regulate"? Usually "relegate" needs an indirect object, to say where whatever-it-is is being relegated to. (E.g., a sports team might be relegated to a lower division; a company employee might be relegated to a post doing boring ill-paid work in a remote outpost.) $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Apr 18, 2016 at 12:04
  • $\begingroup$ I definitely did not mean "regulate". I used "relegate" in the sense "to assign to a place of insignificance" or maybe "to send into exile", as I found in some dictionaries. However, I am not that fluent in English, and "relegate" could have a connotation I am not aware of. $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 18, 2016 at 12:24
  • $\begingroup$ No, that's fine. It isn't common to see "relegate" without "to" -- of all the examples in the OED, only one is lacking it -- but I can't actually think of a good substitute. "Exile" would do but I guess doesn't quite match your meaning. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Apr 18, 2016 at 12:27
  • $\begingroup$ To make it grammatically correct, should it read "Now an elusive stash to relegate our life to" ? Or something in the same idea ? $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 18, 2016 at 12:30
  • $\begingroup$ Only if you mean that the elusive stash is where our life is relegated to. If you mean it's what does the relegating, you'd need to say "to insignificance", "to hell", "to the Falkland Islands", or whatever. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Apr 18, 2016 at 12:31

5 Answers 5

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Maybe a

Cloud

Once soft, suspicious

A cloud is soft but also can mean under a cloud of suspicion

Once heavenly, harsh

Clouds are heavenly objects in the sky but also can bring rain

Once a dream, a danger

A cloud is obscure, dreamy but also can bring a storm

Now an elusive stash to relelegate our life to

Cloud computing - use of computer technology stored on servers rather than the client computers

Hints:

Cloud also means
Blurs or darkens vision - to cloud
Once material, now immaterial - After raining it can disappear
Once in the air, now on the web - now can refer to cloud computing

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @crybaba "The cloud" is immaterial (even if stored on material storage); rain can be harsh, especially in the form of a storm; this all made sense to me, even the dream part – if need be, one can go as far as a thought bubble for this one (which looks like a cloud), but I think of clouds and dreams as metaphors for each other in general. If you're not getting it, I think it's you who is forcing that. $\endgroup$
    – SendersReagent
    Apr 20, 2016 at 17:00
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i think it is:

angel's trumpet

Once soft, suspicious

it is a soft and weird plant

Once heavenly, harsh

angel is heavenly and trumpets are harsh

Once a dream, a danger

this is a hallucinating plant and it is poisonous so dangerous

Now an elusive stash to relegate our life

it is used in medicine or to get high

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  • $\begingroup$ Oohh nice answer ! But not the one I had in mind. The "elusive stash" part is not very convincing though. $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 18, 2016 at 9:57
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Probably wrong, but I'll post it anyway. Is it:

A (kidnapper's) blindfold

Once soft, (now) suspicious

A blindfold is usually made of comfortable soft fabric.
Now that you have been kidnapped, it's suspicious that you have it on.

Once heavenly, (now) harsh

A blindfold is sometimes used for 'bedroom role-play' which can be seen as heavenly.
Now it's harsh the kidnapper used a blindfold that once pleasured you.

Once a dream, (now) a danger

Some people sleep (better) using a blindfold.
Now you're in danger because of the kidnapper.

Now an elusive stash to relegate our life

The kidnapper now controls your life, and decides whether you live/die and if you are being released or not.

Hint

The purpose of a blindfold is to blur/darken vision.

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    $\begingroup$ Good ideas, but not very convincing on "heavenly", IMO. Note that the (now)s are not intended to be on each sentence's second part. $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 18, 2016 at 9:55
  • $\begingroup$ @fffred "Note that the (now)s are not intended to be on each sentence's second part." I know. I tried to come up with something else. I think it has something to do with a medicine / drug / poison, since a lot of them has the side-effect to blur vision, but I couldn't come up with something in that direction. As I said "Probably wrong, ..", but I can't come up with anything else atm, and my knowledge of medicine / drugs / poisons are close to zip, let alone in English (I'm Dutch myself). :) If I can come up with something else I'll post it as a separate answer. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Cruijssen
    Apr 18, 2016 at 10:00
  • $\begingroup$ Medicine, drug, poison. Dead ends ... $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 18, 2016 at 16:21
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I think it is

Ash/Ashes

Once soft, suspicious

I got nothing

Once heavenly, harsh

Used in Hindu rituals (Vibhuti)

Once a dream, a danger

Farm land with ashy soil at the base of volcanoes were great for crops, but you had to watch out for the active volcano

Now an elusive stash to relegate our life

After death, some people want to be cremated

With the hint (Blurs or darkens vision)

Getting ash in you eye can blur you vision or ashes can obscure the sun and darken everything around you

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  • $\begingroup$ Interesting ideas, but the match is weak for "soft, suspicious" indeed. The rest is not bad, although not what I am looking for. $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 18, 2016 at 21:58
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Is it,

Love?

Once soft, suspicious

Feeling of love is both soft(filled with warmth) and suspicious(false love)

Once heavenly, harsh

Love is one of the main forces in the universe with a Goddess dedicated to it(Venus). It's also harsh(broken hearts).

Once a dream, a danger

Being suspicious and possibly false, love is dangerous, as it's possible to deceive using love. It's also the dream of many people to fall in love with someone.

Now an elusive stash to relegate our life to

In today's busy lives, love has become scarce. Both emotionally(stress), and physically(lack of time and mood). That's why we have to chase it, instead of it coming to us.

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  • $\begingroup$ Nice one, but still not quite there. Is love that scarce now? Not sure, but I admit that this last verse has something a little bit nostalgic like that. $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 19, 2016 at 7:22
  • $\begingroup$ When you're a professional programmer, along with your wife, it tends to be rare. $\endgroup$
    – cst1992
    Apr 19, 2016 at 7:29

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