Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967). Picture-Show. 1920.

13. Miracles

I DREAMT I saw a huge grey boat in silence steaming

Down a canal; it drew the dizzy landscape after;

The solemn world was sucked along with it—a streaming

Land-slide of loveliness. O, but I rocked with laughter,

Staring, and clinging to my tree-top. For a lake

Of gleaming peace swept on behind. (I mustn’t wake.)

And then great clouds gathered and burst in spumes of green

That plunged into the water; and the sun came out

On glittering islands thronged with orchards scarlet-bloomed;

And rosy-plumed flamingoes flashed across the scene…

O, but the beauty of their freedom made me shout…

And when I woke I wondered where on earth I’d been.