किताब-खाता / Book Logs

Such a mild blue day it is here in Nantucket, where the breeze some-times whips me, sometimes caresses me! Yet intact Ahab, back from his first voyage, once said of just such a  changeable breeze, This contrast is the way of life itself. All playfully, he added, But were I God, then would every day be invariantly good. Then he asked me if he might be the god of my world.

I teased back and denied him that Never, I said, as long as sky arches over or earth lies under. Once, out of guilt and grief, I had given my will away, but ever after, I kept my soul for myself.

And Ahab asked, Thou wouldst have me unvault the firmament to prove my godhood? Exalt the valleys? And what dost thou require that I demand of the sea?

Then I spoke with more conviction and said, Certainly you are not lord of that, for the sea takes you from me, and am I not your heaven? Here I traced the zaggy mark that began at his temple. How can you be lord of an element having the power to take you from your heaven? Ahab scooped up sand, and in a warm trickle, he poured it on the back of my other hand. The sea has brought me back. Once, to thee.