114 THE HEAVENS 



Evening after evening came to me, too — quite 

 unconsciously, and as it were inevitably — Shelley's 

 words (slightly altered) : 



" Be thou, spirit bright, 

 My spirit ! Be thou me, most glorious one ! 

 Be through my lips to unawakened earth 

 The trumpet 'of a prophecy." 



It was not that there was any particular message 

 that I had to give. But there was aroused in me 

 just this simple, insistent longing to let others know 

 what glory there was in the world, and to be able 

 to communicate to them something of the joy I 

 was then feeling in beholding it. I was highly 

 privileged in having this opportunity of witnessing 

 a Tibetan sunset's splendours. I was yearning for 

 others to share my enjoyment with me. 



The white radiance of the glacier region instils 

 into us a sense of purity, and without the purity 

 of heart which that stern region exacts we cannot 

 see the sunset's glory in all its fulness. But now 

 in these Tibetan sunsets we have not purity alone, 

 but warmth and richness as well. They give an 

 impression of infinity of glory. We catch alight 

 from their consuming glory, and our hearts flame 

 up in correspondence with them. The fervent 

 glow in the Heart of Nature kindles a like glow in 

 our own hearts ; and we are enraptured by the 

 Beauty. 



On our misty island we are apt to connect sun- 

 sets with coming darkness and a black end of things. 

 And in gazing on them we are prone to have a sense 

 of sadness mingled with our joy. They seem to 



