On and Of the Sea

“But what is this that sleep ‘creates’; of what texture are these far other Worlds and Seas? If, for the few minutes that precede the lapse of consciousness into sleep, or follow its recovery, one remains quietly attentive and receptive, but refuses to let either random or directed ‘thought’ regain its mastery, one appears to be drowsily floating on the placid surface of a state that is neither limbo nor complete awareness. It is in as close a relation to either as the waxen lily by the wharf of Lethe is to its own unrippled reflection. It is then that some brilliantly vivid and entirely unexpected image out of nowhere of the mind may, as if in the same moment, be perceived and gone.”

— Walter de la Mare, Behold, This Dreamer!