18.4 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 defmition ; prayer is a puny thing 

 to it, and the word is a rude sign to the feeling, but I 

 know no other. 



'By the blue heaven, by the rolling sun bursting through 

 untrodden space, a new ocean of ether every day un- 

 veiled. By the fresh and wandering air encompassing 

 the world ; by the sea sounding on the shore — the green 

 sea white-flecked at the margin and the deep ocean ; by 

 the strong earth under me. Then, returning, I prayed 

 by the sweet thyme, whose little flowers I touched with 

 my hand ; by the slender grass ; by the crumble of dry 

 chalky earth I took up and let fall through my fingers. 

 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 un- 

 utterable 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 depth of these feelings be written 

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



