登陆注册
34537900000004

第4章

The charm of a single summer day on these island shores is something impossible to express, never to be forgotten. Rarely, in the paler zones, do earth and heaven take such luminosity: those will best understand me who have seen the splendor of a West Indian sky. And yet there is a tenderness of tint, a caress of color, in these Gulf-days which is not of the Antilles,--a spirituality, as of eternal tropical spring. It must have been to even such a sky that Xenophanes lifted up his eyes of old when he vowed the Infinite Blue was God;--it was indeed under such a sky that De Soto named the vastest and grandest of Southern havens Espiritu Santo,--the Bay of the Holy Ghost. There is a something unutterable in this bright Gulf-air that compels awe,--something vital, something holy, something pantheistic: and reverentially the mind asks itself if what the eye beholds is not the Pneuma indeed, the Infinite Breath, the Divine Ghost, the great Blue Soul of the Unknown. All, all is blue in the calm,--save the low land under your feet, which you almost forget, since it seems only as a tiny green flake afloat in the liquid eternity of day. Then slowly, caressingly, irresistibly, the witchery of the Infinite grows upon you: out of Time and Space you begin to dream with open eyes,--to drift into delicious oblivion of facts,--to forget the past, the present, the substantial,--to comprehend nothing but the existence of that infinite Blue Ghost as something into which you would wish to melt utterly away forever....

And this day-magic of azure endures sometimes for months together. Cloudlessly the dawn reddens up through a violet east: there is no speck upon the blossoming of its Mystical Rose,--unless it be the silhouette of some passing gull, whirling his sickle-wings against the crimsoning. Ever, as the sun floats higher, the flood shifts its color. Sometimes smooth and gray, yet flickering with the morning gold, it is the vision of John,--the apocalyptic Sea of Glass mixed with fire;--again, with the growing breeze, it takes that incredible purple tint familiar mostly to painters of West Indian scenery;--once more, under the blaze of noon, it changes to a waste of broken emerald. With evening, the horizon assumes tints of inexpressible sweetness,--pearl-lights, opaline colors of milk and fire; and in the west are topaz-glowings and wondrous flushings as of nacre.

Then, if the sea sleeps, it dreams of all these,--faintly, weirdly,--shadowing them even to the verge of heaven.

Beautiful, too, are those white phantasmagoria which, at the approach of equinoctial days, mark the coming of the winds. Over the rim of the sea a bright cloud gently pushes up its head. It rises; and others rise with it, to right and left--slowly at first; then more swiftly. All are brilliantly white and flocculent, like loose new cotton. Gradually they mount in enormous line high above the Gulf, rolling and wreathing into an arch that expands and advances,--bending from horizon to horizon.

同类推荐
  • 中阿含经

    中阿含经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 西池集

    西池集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 临川山行

    临川山行

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 扫魅敦伦东度记

    扫魅敦伦东度记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说慢法经

    佛说慢法经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 冷少过招:错惹大律师

    冷少过招:错惹大律师

    一场算计,她和他共度一宵,本以为意外后便雁过无痕,不想六年后,一次擦肩而过,一场暗杀,让他再难对她放手。而她却是一副“有子万事足”的样子,一个是国际知名的大律师,另一个是跨国集团年轻的CEO,他这正牌老爸又该如何力挽狂澜,获得宝宝们的心?情节虚构,切勿模仿
  • 响龙岛

    响龙岛

    “我胯下骑着龙,我手里拿着剑,我乘风破浪,我遨游大海,我要夺回属于我的一切?”“呃唔,我是人界第一坐骑,我要吃掉我想要吃的一切!”
  • 男妃

    男妃

    他,王栾,一朝穿越,穿越到了女尊大陆,成为了栾锦心,成为了西凤国女皇的妃子,他会爱上女皇吗?他最终会如何?
  • 王者之神级辅助系统

    王者之神级辅助系统

    【2019天王级王者荣耀系统文,主编力荐】王洋:“为什么人家的系统都是高富帅吊炸天,我是辅助系统?”系统:“宿主不愿意,系统可以重新融合。”王洋:“系统爸爸,我觉得辅助挺好的,身为社会主义接班人,无私奉献才是正统,我要给你点赞。”系统:“……从未见过如此厚颜无耻的宿主。”王洋:“谢谢夸奖。”谁说辅助不能超神?王者辅助才是灵魂。
  • 我叫小易

    我叫小易

    一个年轻人叫小易经常做梦,梦到自己身价无数,直到遇见欧阳小玉他的命运从此改写了……
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 阿修罗之修罗之境

    阿修罗之修罗之境

    一只孤独的异类,游走于人类社会边缘,不知何时才能找到生之意义
  • 有一种智慧叫感恩

    有一种智慧叫感恩

    感恩,是一种歌唱生活的方式,它来自对生活的爱与希望。它是一种最美的心态,是人生快乐的源泉。所谓幸福,是有一颗感恩的心、一个健康的身体、一份称心的工作、一位深爱你的爱人和一帮值得信赖的朋友。
  • 主宰你的情感

    主宰你的情感

    一个人要想取得成功,首先要有一个健康良好的心理素质,其中,健康的情感是必不可少的。什么是情感?情感是怎样形成的?成功需要怎样的情感素养?怎样培养自己走向成功必备的情感素养?在本书中我们将一起探讨这些有关成功的心理奥秘。主要内容有:情感的探秘、人生不能没有情感、主宰你的情感世界、调控你的情感生活、战胜你的消极情感、克服你的考试焦虑、善待你的初春恋情、情感自我测试等。同时,结合古今中外的典型故事以及心理咨询案例,帮助读者在亲切轻松的交流中把握情感培养的心理奥秘,行文活泼,深入浅出。
  • 诸神弃族

    诸神弃族

    他,是诸神遗弃的妖精之王;他,是西北荒漠的领地之主;他,没有耀眼的家世,没有显赫的背景,更加没有什么艳绝的本领;有的,只是满腔的热血和不屈的意志……一个种族,一块领地谱写一段不朽的传奇!诸神弃族,我们等你……