We camped within a sheltering cedar-grove;

And all the day, beneath the level boughs,

Upon the agelong-bedded needles lay,

Half-slumbering, with fleeting, fretful dreams

That could not quite forget the chafing cords,

That held our arms in aching numbness:

But, ere the noon, in sounder sleep I sank,

Dreaming I floated on a still, deep pool,

Beneath dark, overhanging branches;

And seemed to feel upon my cheek

The cool caress of waters;

While, far above me, through the night of trees,

Noon glimmered faintly as the glint of stars.

As thus I lay, in indolent ecstasy,

O'er me, suddenly, the waters

Curved, and I was dragged,

Down and down,

Through gurgling deeps

Of swirling, drowning darkness...

When I awoke in terror;

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