• "whenever i find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly november in my soul; whenever i find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral i meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, i account it high time to get to sea as soon as i can." -- Hermin Melville, The Sea
•  "The world is blue at its edges and in its depths. This blue is the light that got lost. Light at the blue end of the spectrum does not travel the whole distance from the sun to us. it disperses among the molecules of the air, it scatters in the water. Water is colorless, shallow water appears to be the color of whatever lies underneath it, but deep water is full of this scattered light, the purer the water the deeper the blue. The sky is blue for the same reason, but the blue at the horizon, the blue of land that seems to be dissolving into the sky, is a deeper, dreamier, melancholy blue, the blue at the farthest reaches of the places where you see for miles, the blue of distance. This light that does not touch us, does not travel the whole distance, the light that gets lots gives us the beauty of the world, so much of which is in the color blue." -- A Field Guide for Getting Lost
• Now deeper the water I sail

And faster the current I’m in That each night brings the stars And the song in my heart Is a tune for the journeyman’s tale

The water sustains me without even trying The water can’t drown me, I’m done With my dying

Now the land that I knew is a dream And the line on the distance grows faint So wide is my river The horizon a sliver The artist has run out of paint

The water sustains me without even trying The water can’t drown me, I’m done With my dying -- From The Sea / Joe Purdy

• "Alone now, I leaned over the edge of my boat and looked down to the bottom of the sea. The volcano was gone. The water's calm surface reflected the blue of the sky. Little waves -- like silk pajamas fluttering in a breeze -- lapped against the side of the boat. There was nothing else. I stretched out in the bottom of the boat and closed by eyes, waiting for the rising tide to carry me where I belonged" -- Haruki Murakami / The Elephant Vanishes
• See this ancient riverbed, see where all our follies are led

Down by the water and down by the old main drag I was just some towhead teen, feeling around for fingers to get in between Down by the water, down by the old main drag

The season rubs me wrong The summer swells anon

So knock me down, tear me up But I would bear it all broken just to fill my cup Down by the water and down by the old main drag

Sweet descend this rabble round Pretty little patter of a seaport town Rolling down the water and rolling down the old main drag

All dolled up in gabardine The last flashing lee to appear nineteen Queen of the water and queen of the old main drag

The season rubs me wrong The summer swells anon So knock me down, tear me up But I would bear it all broken just to fill my cup Down by the water and down by the old main drag -- The Decemberists; Down By the Water