A
Parable of Immortality
by Henry Van Dyke
I
am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white
sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean,
She
is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until
at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud where the sea and the
sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says, "There, she's gone,"
Gone
where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in
mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as
able to bear her load of living weight to the place of destination. Her
diminished size is in me, not in her; and just as that moment when
someone at my side said, "There, she's gone," there are other eyes
watching her coming and other voices to take the glad shout,
"There, she's coming!"
Sincere appreciation to Margi Harrell for the use of the midi "Hope"
Page revised August 2006