Our dreams are luminous, a cast fire upon the world. Morning arrives and that's it. Sunlight darkens the earth.
How many years have slipped through our hands? At least as many as the constellations we still can identify. The quarter moon, like a light skiff, floats out of the mist-remnants Of last night’s hard rain. It, too, will slip through our fingers with no ripple, without us in it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the passage of time and the fleeting nature of life, suggesting that moments vanish like the moon through mist.
In this quote, Charles Wright meditates on the ephemeral nature of time and experiences. He draws a parallel between the years that seemingly slip away unnoticed and the constellations in the night sky, which remain constant even as individual moments fade from memory. The imagery of the quarter moon floating through the mist evokes a sense of beauty coupled with loss, emphasizing that life’s moments, like the moon and rain, can pass without leaving a mark, highlighting the inevitability of time and our transient existence within it.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a reflective speech on life's impermanence at a memorial service.
More from Charles Wright
All quotes →Similar quotes
Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Let us fill a cup and drink to that most noble, ridiculous, laughable, sublime figure in our lives... The Young Man Who Was. Let us drink to his dreams, for they were rainbow-colored; to his appetites, for they were strong; to his blunders, for they were huge; to his pains for they were sharp; to his time for it was brief; and to his end, for it was to become one of us.
You may try your experiment for a week and see how you like it. I think by Saturday night you will find that all play and no work is as bad as all work and no play
Being engaged is a way of doing life, a way of living and loving. It's about going to extremes and expressing the bright hope that life offers us, a hope that makes us brave and expels darkness with light. That's what I want my life to be all about - full of abandon, whimsy, and in love.
Life was about spending time together , about having the time to walk together holding hands, talking quietly as the sun go down. It wasn't glamorous, but it was, in many ways, the best that life has to offer. Wasn't that how the old saying went? Who, on their deathbed, ever said they wished they had worked harder? Or spent less time enjoying a quiet afternoon? Or spent less time with their family?
At twenty life was like wrestling an octopus. Every moment mattered. At thirty it was a walk in the country. Most of the time your mind was somewhere else. By the time you got to seventy, it was probably like watching snooker on the telly.