7.28.2026 – to see, the craving

to see, the craving
of sailors, as of rest of
blind humanity

Adapted from a passage in Chapter 27 of The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1906), where Mr. Conrad writes:

To see! to see! —

this is the craving of the sailor, as of the rest of blind humanity.

To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence.

I have heard a reserved, silent man, with no nerves to speak of, after three days of hard running in thick south-westerly weather, burst out passionately: “I wish to God we could get sight of something!”

Looking ahead to next day, the next week, the next month … I wish to God I could get sight of something.

I know it should be enough that I know that God sees far far ahead of anything I could see and I should let it sit there with God.

Truthfully I would LOVE to be able to let it sit there.

But as Mr. Conrad also writes: Love and regret go hand in hand in this world of changes swifter than the shifting of the clouds reflected in the mirror of the sea.