--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those hours given over to basking in the…" description: "\"Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined future, of being carried away in streams of promise by a love or a passion so strong that ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80b/mark-strand-9847_basking_those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the_592602.png" --- # Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an… ![“Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined future, of being carried away in streams of promise by a love or a passion so strong that one felt altered forever and convinced that even the smallest particle of the surrounding world was charged with purpose of impossible grandeur…” quote by Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80b/mark-strand-9847_basking_those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the_592602.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80b/mark-strand-9847_basking_those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the_592602.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80b/mark-strand-9847_basking_those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the_592602.png) > “Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined future, of being carried away in streams of promise by a love or a passion so strong that one felt altered forever and convinced that even the smallest particle of the surrounding world was charged with purpose of impossible grandeur; ah, yes, and one would look up into the trees and be thrilled by the wind- loosened river of pale, gold foliage cascading down and by the high, melodious singing of countless birds; those moments, so many and so long ago, still come back, but briefly, like fireflies in the perfumed heat of summer night.” [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Nostalgia for fleeting, idealized moments that feel eternally meaningful despite their brevity. **In simple terms:** Cherish brief, beautiful experiences. Key Takeaway Savor and remember fleeting joys. Themes nostalgia beauty transience memory nature Mood melancholic contemplative Type poetic inspirational When to use this quote - summer evenings - artistic inspiration - personal reflection - creative writing Key Concepts ephemerality idealism Questions to Reflect On - What fleeting moments have shaped you? - How do you balance nostalgia with present action? A Different Perspective Such moments may idealize reality and distract from present duties. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Basking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basking/) [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Firefly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firefly/) [Foliage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foliage/) [Gold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gold/) [Grandeur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grandeur/) [Heat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heat/) [Long ago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-ago/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Particles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particles/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Promise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/promise/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rivers/) [Singing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/singing/) [Summer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer/) [Summer Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer-night/) [Summer nights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer-nights/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Trees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trees/) [Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wind/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“So often in life, moments that are long anticipated turn out to be profound disappointments.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-abercrombie/so-often-in-life-moments-that-are-long-anticipated-turn-out-to-be/) [Joe Abercrombie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-abercrombie/) > [Love appears in moments, how long can I hold a moment, as my moment fades, I yearn to catch sight or sound of you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-watson/love-appears-in-moments-how-long-can-i-hold-a-moment-as-my-moment/) Chris Watson > [“In anyone's life there can be only a few such moments - moments when a long, ringing hush fills your hearing, the world stands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olga-grushin/in-anyone-s-life-there-can-be-only-a-few-such-moments-moments-when-a/) [Olga Grushin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olga-grushin/) > [“His lips graze my ear and it's like fireflies are buzzing around my heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-dos-santos/his-lips-graze-my-ear-and-it-s-like-fireflies-are-buzzing-around-my/) [Steven dos Santos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-dos-santos/) > [As you walk the path of life, may the lights of Diwali dance like fireflies in your dark days, so that they will help…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-you-walk-the-path-of-life-may-the-lights-of-diwali-dance-like/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Memories are like fireflies darting across the surface of my mind, showing me here and there images so sharp and vivid that I catch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-kay/memories-are-like-fireflies-darting-across-the-surface-of-my-mind/) [Susan Kay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-kay/) > [Above us our palace waits, the only one I've ever needed. Its walls are space, its floor is sky, its center everywhere. We rise;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chitra-banerjee-divakaruni/above-us-our-palace-waits-the-only-one-i-ve-ever-needed-its-walls-are/) [Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chitra-banerjee-divakaruni/) > [“Sharing your kindness sparks understanding all around. Then like fireflies in the night, twinkling love surrounds you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-leigh-mercree/sharing-your-kindness-sparks-understanding-all-around-then-like/) [Amy Leigh Mercree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-leigh-mercree/) > [And for just a fleeting moment, a tiny wisp of time that hung in the air like fireflies in summer skies, she wondered if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-sparks/and-for-just-a-fleeting-moment-a-tiny-wisp-of-time-that-hung-in-the/) [Nicholas Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-sparks/) > [“If only memories, explicit ones, could be caught and held in a transparent jar like fireflies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hala-alzaghal/if-only-memories-explicit-ones-could-be-caught-and-held-in-a/) [Hala Alzaghal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hala-alzaghal/) > [“And quick strokes of other less intimate adventures Flashed in her wounded eyes like fireflies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-bola-o/and-quick-strokes-of-other-less-intimate-adventures-flashed-in-her/) [Roberto Bolaño](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberto-bola-o/) > [“This was not some regular dame. No, this was a doll with high tastes, with ideas dancing in her head like fireflies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/this-was-not-some-regular-dame-no-this-was-a-doll-with-high-tastes/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [“As we drove off into the moonless night, raindrops danced through our headlights like the fireflies of my childhood. I silently cursed the frailty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-gaille/as-we-drove-off-into-the-moonless-night-raindrops-danced-through-our/) Scott Gaille > [The stars are not afraid to appear like fireflies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/the-stars-are-not-afraid-to-appear-like-fireflies/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [People are attracted to your light because they want it for themselves. It's like fireflies. When we were kids in New York, we would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karrine-steffans/people-are-attracted-to-your-light-because-they-want-it-for/) [Karrine Steffans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karrine-steffans/) ## More by Mark Strand > [We’re only here for a short while. And I think it’s such a lucky accident, having been born, that we’re almost obliged to pay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/we-re-only-here-for-a-short-while-and-i-think-it-s-such-a-lucky/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [If every head of state and every government official spent an hour a day reading poetry we'd live in a much more humane and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/if-every-head-of-state-and-every-government-official-spent-an-hour-a/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [To open the dictionary of the Beyond and discover what one suspected, that the only word in it is nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/to-open-the-dictionary-of-the-beyond-and-discover-what-one-suspected/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/i-think-the-best-american-poetry-is-the-poetry-that-utilizes-the/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [“The ultimate self-effacement is not the pretense of the minimal, but the jocular considerations of the maximal in the manner of Wallace Stevens.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/the-ultimate-self-effacement-is-not-the-pretense-of-the-minimal-but/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [I have been eating poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/i-have-been-eating-poetry/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [“Keeping Things Whole" In a field I am the absence of field. This is always the case. Wherever I am I am what is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/keeping-things-whole-in-a-field-i-am-the-absence-of-field-this-is/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [There's a certain point, when you're writing autobiographical stuff, where you don't want to misrepresent yourself. It would be dishonest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/there-s-a-certain-point-when-you-re-writing-autobiographical-stuff/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [Poetry is about slowing down. You sit and you read something, you read it again, and it reveals a little bit more, and things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/poetry-is-about-slowing-down-you-sit-and-you-read-something-you-read/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [These wrinkles are nothing These gray hairs are nothing, This stomach which sags with old food, these bruised and swollen ankles, my darkening brain,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/these-wrinkles-are-nothing-these-gray-hairs-are-nothing-this-stomach/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [Pain is filtered in a poem so that it becomes finally, in the end, pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/pain-is-filtered-in-a-poem-so-that-it-becomes-finally-in-the-end/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [In a field I am the absence of field.That is always the case. Wherever I am, I am what is missing. When I walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/in-a-field-i-am-the-absence-of-field-that-is-always-the-case-wherever/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [Even this late it happens the coming of love, the coming of light. You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/even-this-late-it-happens-the-coming-of-love-the-coming-of-light-you/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [I feel that anything is possible in a poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/i-feel-that-anything-is-possible-in-a-poem/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [I tend to like poems that engage me - that is to say, which do not bore me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/i-tend-to-like-poems-that-engage-me-that-is-to-say-which-do-not-bore/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) [Explore all 70 Mark Strand quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) ## More Basking quotes > [They will have time enough, in those endless aeons, to attempt all things, and to gather all knowledge no Gods imagined by our minds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-c-clarke/they-will-have-time-enough-in-those-endless-aeons-to-attempt-all/) [Arthur C. Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-c-clarke/) > [You were the leaves, basking in the sunlight. I was the root, growing in the darkness ~Danzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masashi-kishimoto/you-were-the-leaves-basking-in-the-sunlight-i-was-the-root-growing-in/) [Masashi Kishimoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masashi-kishimoto/) > [To regret the exchange of earthly pleasures for the joys of Heaven, is as if the grovelling caterpillar should lament that it must one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bronte/to-regret-the-exchange-of-earthly-pleasures-for-the-joys-of-heaven-is/) [Anne Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bronte/) > [It was a light that shone over our faces, our wounds and scars. It was a light so brilliant and white it could have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-heim/it-was-a-light-that-shone-over-our-faces-our-wounds-and-scars-it-was/) [Scott Heim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-heim/) > [In my vast experience, I've found it always wiser to go along with female advice… First, you make them happy by doing what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-laymon/in-my-vast-experience-i-ve-found-it-always-wiser-to-go-along-with/) [Richard Laymon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-laymon/) > [...vicinity to the sea is desirable, because it is easier to do nothing by the sea than anywhere else, and because bathing and basking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-f-benson/vicinity-to-the-sea-is-desirable-because-it-is-easier-to-do-nothing/) [E.F. Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-f-benson/) > [He lay on his chair with his hands clasped above his paunch not reading, or sleeping, but basking like a creature gorged with existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/he-lay-on-his-chair-with-his-hands-clasped-above-his-paunch-not/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [To regret the exchange of earthly pleasures for the joys of Heaven, is as if the grovelling caterpillar should lament that it must one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bronte/to-regret-the-exchange-of-earthly-pleasures-for-the-joys-of-heaven-is-2/) [Anne Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bronte/) > [When you aren't drinking or using drugs or spending lots of money on fancy toys or basking in the glow of fame or working…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-beck/when-you-aren-t-drinking-or-using-drugs-or-spending-lots-of-money-on/) [Glenn Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-beck/) > [The world is very good at encouraging you to go along with the status quo and at basking in your successes. But when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viola-davis/the-world-is-very-good-at-encouraging-you-to-go-along-with-the-status/) [Viola Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viola-davis/) > [At the end of the day, nobody can tell you how to tackle failure or how to handle change. The world is very good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viola-davis/at-the-end-of-the-day-nobody-can-tell-you-how-to-tackle-failure-or/) [Viola Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viola-davis/) > [“No matter the joy in heaven, its coldness will make you bask beside the flames of hell.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/no-matter-the-joy-in-heaven-its-coldness-will-make-you-bask-beside/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [Then her eyes narrowed. The sun was spilling in the window behind her and Dageus's eyes were golden, dappled with darker flecks. Smoky and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/then-her-eyes-narrowed-the-sun-was-spilling-in-the-window-behind-her/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [There has come into existence, chiefly in America, a breed of men who claim to be feminists. They imagine that they have understood what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/there-has-come-into-existence-chiefly-in-america-a-breed-of-men-who/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Sentimentality is a basking in feelings that in reality you don't take seriously enough to make the slightest sacrifice to or ever translate into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/sentimentality-is-a-basking-in-feelings-that-in-reality-you-don-t/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) [Browse all 29 Basking quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basking/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined future, of being carried away in streams of promise by a love or a passion so strong that one felt altered forever and convinced that even the smallest particle of the surrounding world was charged with purpose of impossible grandeur; ah, yes, and one would look up into the trees and be thrilled by the wind- loosened river of pale, gold foliage cascading down and by the high, melodious singing of countless birds; those moments, so many and so long ago, still come back, but briefly, like fireflies in the perfumed heat of summer night.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Strand" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the-glow-of-an-imagined-future/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Basking" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the-glow-of-an-imagined-future/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80b/mark-strand-9847_basking_those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the_592602.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80b/mark-strand-9847_basking_those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the_592602.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80b/mark-strand-9847_basking_those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the_592602.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined future, of being carried away in streams of…” — Mark Strand", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mark Strand", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Those hours given over to basking...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the-glow-of-an-imagined-future/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/those-hours-given-over-to-basking-in-the-glow-of-an-imagined-future/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```