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Astronomy Quote by Gene Wolfe

“Sometimes driven aground by the photon storms, by the swirling of the galaxies, clockwise and counterclockwise, ticking with light down the dark sea-corridors lined with our silver sails, our demon-haunted sails, our hundred-league masts as fine as threads, as fine as silver needles sewing the…” quote by Gene Wolfe
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““Sometimes driven aground by the photon storms, by the swirling of the galaxies, clockwise and counterclockwise, ticking with light down the dark sea-corridors lined with our silver sails, our demon-haunted sails, our hundred-league masts as fine as threads, as fine as silver needles sewing the threads of starlight, embroidering the stars on black velvet, wet with the winds of Time that go racing by. The bone in her teeth! The spume, the flying spume of Time, cast up on these beaches where old sailors can no longer keep their bones from the restless, the unwearied universe. Where has she gone? My lady, the mate of my soul? Gone across the running tides of Aquarius, of Pisces, of Aries. Gone. Gone in her little boat, her nipples pressed against the black velvet lid, gone, sailing away forever from the star-washed shores, the dry shoals of the habitable worlds. She is her own ship, she is the figurehead of her own ship, and the captain. Bosun, Bosun, put out the launch! Sailmaker, make a sail! She has left us behind. We have left her behind. She is in the past we never knew and the future we will not see. Put out more sail, Captain for the universe is leaving us behind…””

Gene Wolfe

About This Quote

The passage mourns a beloved woman who has sailed away across a cosmic ocean of stars and time, leaving the speaker behind.

In simple terms: She is gone, sailing away through the universe.

Key Takeaway

Some departures are permanent. Still, set more sail.

Themes

loss journey memory cosmic time love

Mood

melancholic lyrical mystical

Type

literary poetic lament

When to use this quote

  • grieving a departure
  • letting go
  • reflecting on vast time
  • reading literary fiction

Key Concepts

cosmic metaphor time as sea lyrical lament

Questions to Reflect On

  • What does being left behind mean to you?
  • How do you find beauty in loss?
A Different Perspective

The elaborate imagery can feel obscure or detached from ordinary experience.

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