Night is imagined as a woman in white walking beside a vast sea of sleep. The only sound is the faint rustle of her clothing, which becomes the breeze. That rustling calls a mist-like boat of dreams out from some unknown cavern to sail toward us, loaded with bright, starry thoughts. As she moves along the blue rim of the sky, she seems to be a magnet, drawing millions of dream-vessels in her wake. The speaker watches this with hushed awe, not fear. The mood is slow, weightless, and full of wonder, like the moment just before sleep when real sights blur into strange and beautiful images. It makes dreaming feel less like something happening inside us and more like a gift arriving from a distant, magical sea.
By the Sea of Sleep Walks White-Robed Night — Summary
By the sea of sleep walks white-robed Night; The breeze but the faint rustle of her drapery That calls the mist-made bark of dream From the cavern of the Unknown to sail to us, Laden with endless star-like fancies. And She! the magician, walks on and on Over the sapphire embankment of the sky Like a moving magnet drawing behind her a million dream-argosies.