From "Beauty: The Invisible Embrace" by John O'Donohue  Every
life is braided with luminous moments.  I was with a friend out
on Loch Corrib, the largest lake in the West of Ireland. It was
a beautiful summer's day. Time had come to rest in the silence
and stillness that presided there. The lake slept without a
ripple. A grey-blue haze enfolded everything. There was no
division any more between earth and sky. Reaching far into the
distance, everything was suffused in a majestic blue light. The
mountains of Conamara seemed like pile upon pile of delicate
blue; you felt you could almost reach out your hand and pull
them towards you. No object protruded anywhere. Trees, stones,
fields and islands had forgotten themselves in the daze of blue.
Then, suddenly, a harsh flutter as near us the lake surface
split and a huge cormorant flew from inside the water and struck
up into the air. Its ragged black wings and large awkward shape
were like an eruption from the underworld. Against the finely
woven blue everywhere it