92 



THE OPAL SEA 



Our place 

 in 7iature. 



Starlight 

 on the sea. 



new life by the shimmering ocean ! We are 

 subdued, saddened, perhaps humbled in the 

 presence of the great elements; we feel our in- 

 consequence, our insignificance. What place 

 have we in this dream of glory, this golden 

 patterning upon the blue ? We watch it weave 

 and ravel — that track of moonlight on the sea 

 — and fondly imagine that it shines for us 

 alone; but it glitters just as brightly along 

 many leagues of shore and sea where there are 

 no eyes to see it. The moonlight and the sun- 

 light with their broken reflections in the wave 

 are for all the world alike, and we — perhaps 

 we are no more than spots of color like the tiny 

 waves that make up the Angels Pathway, or 

 merely diminutive cubes in the golden mosaic 

 of Creation, touched into momentary light by 

 the passing splendor. 



It would seem as though splendor had 

 reached its vanishing point when the moon, 

 grown cold and white, sinks below the western 

 horizon. But no. The sky turns deep purple, 

 the waves snap and sparkle in sharp points, the 

 shadows gather closer about the ship; but the 

 stars are the brighter for their dark surround- 

 ing sky, and for the darker mirror in which 

 they are reflected. How they glitter above and 

 below ! Dark fields of sky dotted with the splen- 



