Page:The evolution of worlds - Lowell.djvu/279

Rh the Sun sinks behind the hills and his gorgeous gold of parting fades to amber amid the tender tapestry of trees. The very air takes on a meaning which the flood of day had swamped. Seen itself, no longer imperfectly seen through, it wakes to semi-sentient existence, a spirit come to life aloft to shield us from the too immediate vacancy of space. The perfumes of the soil, the trees, the flowers, steal out to it, as the twilight glow itself exhales to heaven. In the hushed quiet of the gloaming Earth holds her breath, prescient of a revelation to come.

Then as the half-light deepens, the universe appears. One by one the company of heaven stand forth to human sight. Venus first in all her glory brightens amid the dying splendor of the west, growing in lustre as her setting fades. From mid-heaven the Moon lets fall a sheen of silvery light, the ghostly mantle of her ghostlike self, over the silent Earth. Eastward Jupiter, like some great lantern of the system's central sweep, swings upward from the twilight bow to take possession of the night. Beyond lies Saturn, or Uranus perchance dim with distance, measuring still greater span. All in order in their several place the noble cortège of the Sun is exposed to view, seen now by the courtesy of his withdrawal, backgrounded against the immensity of space. Great worlds, these separate attendants, and yet as nothings in the void where stare the silent stars, huge suns