58 THE LIFE OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



thought of the earth's firmness — I felt it bear me up ; 

 through the grassy couch there came an influence as if 

 I could feel the great earth speaking to me. I thought 

 of the wandering air — its pureness, which is its beauty ; 

 the air touched me and gave me something of itself. I 

 spoke to the sea ; though so far, in my mind I saw it, 

 green at the rim of the earth and blue in deeper ocean ; 

 I desired to have its strength, its mystery and glory. Then 

 I addressed the sun, desiring the soul equivalent of his 

 light and brilliance, his endurance and unwearied race. 

 I turned to the blue heaven over, gazing into its depth, 

 inhaling its exquisite colour and sweetness. The rich 

 blue of the unattainable flower of the sky drew my soul 

 towards it, and there it rested ; for pure colour is rest of 

 heart. By all these I prayed ; I felt an emotion of the 

 soul beyond all definition ; prayer is a puny thing to it, 

 and the word is a rude sign to the feeling, but I know no 

 other. . . . 



' Touching the crumble of earth, the blade of grass, the 

 thyme flower, breathing the earth-encircling air, thinking 

 of the sea and the sky, holding out my hand for the sun- 

 beams to touch it, prone on the sward in token of deep 

 reverence, thus I prayed that I might touch to the 

 unutterable existence infinitely higher than deity. 



' With all the intensity of feeling which exalted me, all 

 the intense communion I held with the earth, the sun and 

 sky, the stars hidden by the light, with the ocean — 

 in no manner can the thrilling depths of these feelings be 

 written — with these I prayed, as if they were the keys 

 of an instrument, of an organ, with which I swelled forth 

 the notes of my soul, redoubling my own voice by their 

 power. The great sun burning with light ; the strong 

 earth, dear earth ; the warm sky ; the pure air ; the 

 thought of ocean ; the inexpressible beauty of all filled 

 me with a rapture, an ecstasy, an inflatus. With this 

 inflatus, too, I prayed. Next to myself I came and recalled 

 myself, my bodily existence. I held out my hand, the 

 sunlight gleamed on the skin and the iridescent nails ; I 



1 



