A Parable of Immortality


I
am
standing
upon the sea-
shore. A ship at
my side spreads his
white sails to the morning
breeze and starts for the blue
ocean. He is an object of beauty
and strength, and I stand and watch,
until at last he hangs like a speck of white
cloud just where the sea and sky come together.
Someone at my side says aloud, “There he goes.”
Goes where? Gone from my sight -- that is all. He is
just as
large
in mast and hull and spar, and just as able to bear his load of living freight to the place of destination as he was when he left my side. His diminished size is in me, not in him. And just
at that moment when we say, “There he goes,” other eyes are watching him coming, and
other voices are ready to take up the
glad shout, “Here he comes!”


Author Unknown