Outside Wirathu's office at the New Ma Soe Yein monastery hangs a large poster of him gazing heavenward next to a dove with an olive branch in its beak.
But, chiefly, the Admiral extolled the might of naval gunfire, whose concentration on the landing area, he said, gesturing heavenward with his meerschaum, would be the heaviest ever to support American troops.
With the dancers' single-spire headdresses pointing heavenward like so many sharp beams, and the predominance of golden hues in their sarongs (for the goddesses) and draped trousers (for the gods), the finale of "The Legend of Apsara Mera" had the look of a vista of towering temples all animated as if visited by a gentle breeze.