IWOKE from middle sleep, alarmed to see On every side immense obscurity.
I heard Time's serpent, coiled within the clock,
Make loosening rearrangement of his rings.
I feared: I thought of transitory things;
Blood paused: the heart was momentary rock.
Dissolved in gloom,
I grieved that I was one
Who lately stood significant in sun:
The image gone, essential agony,
A frenzied ghost, usurped my bed all night.
Then swung the Earth into ironic light,
Restoring valor and identity.