Island light: Glimpse of Eternity
Moment of quiet repose at the base of East Chop Light.
Moment of quiet repose at the base of East Chop Light.
Vineyard Haven harbor reflection.
Vineyard Haven harbor reflection.
Foggy day in Aquinnah.
Foggy day in Aquinnah.
Menemsha.
Menemsha.
Zinnias bloom at Norton Farm in Oak Bluffs.
Zinnias bloom at Norton Farm in Oak Bluffs.
Nashaquitsa.
Nashaquitsa.
End of sunflower season at Katama Farm.
End of sunflower season at Katama Farm.
Cloudy skies for lighthouse tours in Gay Head.
Cloudy skies for lighthouse tours in Gay Head.
Chickadee, dee, dee, dee.
Chickadee, dee, dee, dee.
Snow fence protects the fragile dunes along Lobsterville.
Snow fence protects the fragile dunes along Lobsterville.
Gnarled oak tree in the Quansoo woods.
Gnarled oak tree in the Quansoo woods.
Pulled ashore by the Owen Park boathouse.
Pulled ashore by the Owen Park boathouse.
Vintage Ford in a vintage fishing port.
Vintage Ford in a vintage fishing port.
Stars light up the Katama sky like so many fireflies.
Stars light up the Katama sky like so many fireflies.
Today marks the last weekend in August, and families and friends are on the Vineyard celebrating. One last trip to Larsen's Fish Market, another round of golf at Farm Neck, a box of Murdick's fudge to go, and a last swim at South Beach. Yet even as we celebrate, we find our conversations slipping into past tense, the summer simultaneously culminating and escaping us, streaming away into memory.
But there is a deeper sense in which the wonders of an Island summer do not escape us, but accrue and are burnished by time. And this is why the continuities of Island life matter so profoundly.
"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in," wrote Thoreau. "I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains." Island summer, in its very evanescence, is a glimpse of eternity.