The wide steep staircase
In the hollow and dreaming palace -
You stand at the top of space,
Gaze into the abyss.

And the darkness clutches at you
And the emptiness sucks,
And you gaze, dreaming anew
In a motionless flux -

Of a dark well where water is gleaming
Hundreds of feet below;
In your mind anxieties teeming,
As you fall, slow and slow.

And you know that it's only dreams,
That you're not falling really;
That suspended dust in the sunbeams
Is shining clearly -

And the wormed wood would be solid and hard,
Footsteps resound on the oak,
If only the way out of sleep were not barred,
If only you woke…