Gone where?

I am standing upon the seashore. 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 still 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's 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
         

A Delightful Moment

As I gaze out the window of the airplane at the ground below sparsely covered with snow, I am struck by the contrast between the white snow on the ground and the white clouds floating in the sky. Miles below me, yet miles above the ground, the clouds cast their shadow on the earth far below. 

Some areas are thick and stretch for miles like a huge plush mattress of cotton, others are just small puffs of white. They both equally invite cherubs with plump, rosy cheeks to dance and frolic about in giggles and fits of laughter in their softness. 

Far below the dark rivers and roads snake across the landscape making crazy patterns in the snow. 

I'm looking for spot where a fun loving, little angel jumped a little too hard, glided the distance to earth and upon landing proceeded to flap arms and legs making a perfect angel in the unblemished snow. 

 

It's a delightful day with a joyful moment of imagery.