This is a vision of the elemental power of spirit.
Here's an illustration for a certain moment in my stage play The Passing Of Uther Pendragon. Our hero, King Arthur's father, letting go the ravelled thread of life at last, has set out in a tiny sailboat on the cosmic tide, bound for a harbor on the far side of the moon. Now here a loving spirit rises from our nearer coast to follow him and watch the way.