This narrow isthmus ’twixt two boundless seas,
The past, the future, two eternities.
Moore, “Lalla Rookh.”
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
Longfellow, “Elizabeth.”
Like driftwood spars which meet and pass
Upon the boundless ocean-plain,