On the Beach at Night Alone

Inspiration 

Several times a year I have the opportunity to walk along a beach of the Atlantic or the shore of Lake Michigan at night. The waves surging from an unseen horizon and the stars bring one into the realm of timelessness, of the eternity that so transcends one’s limited life. I experienced many events over the past seven years since I set up this site, many of them happy, and a few of them really full of sadness. But the shore under the stars is a constant in one human life. They nurture mindfullness in the moment and a humble perspective of life and mortality. Walt Whitman’s poem below captures this for me.

In my fiction, and occasional reflection, I aspire to capture being on the beach at night, sometimes alone, sometimes with a kindred spirit, but always with an awe over the miracle of our lives within the universe.

July 25, 2023

 

On the Beach at Night Alone

Walt Whitman, 1819 – 1892 

As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song,	

As I watch the bright stars shining, 
I think a thought of the clef 
of the universes, and of the future.	 
  
A vast similitude interlocks all,	 

All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
All distances of place however wide,	 

All distances of time, all inanimate forms,	 

All souls, all living bodies, though they be ever so different, or in 
different worlds,	 

All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,	   

All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,	 

All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this globe, or any globe,	 

All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,	 

This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann’d, 

And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.

This poem is in the public domain.

 

Science Fiction: The Girassian Debacle

A science fiction novel published as a serial; chapter one begins here: https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/home/science-fiction/?preview=true&_thumbnail_id=482

Table of Contents: The Girassian Debacle: https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/science-fiction-the-girassian-debacle/

The most recent serial updates are posted below:

Recent Posts

Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 20: “Give Us, Free-dum…bbb…!”

by wfheidenreich, posted in Fiction

Art by Rain Elegy Previously. Chapter 19 “Let’s Step Out” https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2025/12/02/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-19-lets-step-out/ Summary of first Secton of 18 Chapters: Our Story so Far: https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2025/12/02/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-our-story-so far/ A glint off to the side of the Plaza caught Maureau’s eye. A dozen or more Emissaries, their helmets, a rainbow of colors, caught the dawn-like light as they moved along … Continue reading Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 20: “Give Us, Free-dum…bbb…!”

Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 19: “Let’s Step Out”

by wfheidenreich, posted in Fiction

Art by Rain Elegy Previously, Our Story So Far; Summary of first Secton of 18 Chapters. https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2025/12/02/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-our-story-so-far/ Prior Chapter 18. Get Off the Table. https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2023/12/13/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-18-get-off-the-table/ Through the bridge’s clear-view panel, the Gateway appeared a bejeweled ring glinting against the Red Planet’s dull rust color. The Portal protruded from the center of the metal and glass … Continue reading Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 19: “Let’s Step Out”

Fiction: The Girassian Debacle ….. Our Story So Far

by wfheidenreich, posted in Fiction

Art by Rain Elegy Previous Chapter 18: Get Off the Table: https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2023/12/13/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-18-get-off-the-table/ Two hundred years before the events of our story, the alien Hidden arrive and shatter human history. From the time of their arrival a mysterious military order serve as their envoys to humankind. Concealed behind armor, these Emissaries police international and interplanetary affairs using … Continue reading Fiction: The Girassian Debacle ….. Our Story So Far

Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 18: Get Off the Table

by wfheidenreich, posted in Fiction

Photo of Cape May Point beach, New Jersey by author Previous Chapter 17           https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2023/10/31/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-17-the-ghost-ship-quivered/ The London stood down to Condition Two and Captain Anthony Maureau decided to stop stressing the crew and ship. He ordered acceleration limited to just under one point two five G, rewarding Senator Mitchell and the crew with a lighter … Continue reading Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 18: Get Off the Table

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