A ship at my side spreads her
white sails to the morning
breeze and starts for the blue
ocean. She is an object of
beauty and strength. I stand
and watch her until at length she
hangs like a speck of white
cloud just where the sea and
sky come to mingle with
each other.
Then someone at my side says:
"There, she is gone!"
"Gone where?"
Gone from my sight. That is
all. She is just as large in mast
and hull and spar as she was
when she left my side and
she is just as able to bear
the load of living freight to
her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me,
not in her. And just at the
moment when someone at
my side says: "There, she is
gone!" There are other eyes
watching her coming, and
other voices ready to take up
the glad shout: "Here she comes!"
And that is dying.
~Henry Van Dyke~
