Entangled

I stood as one enchanted,All in the forest deep:As one that wond'ring wanders,Dream-bound within his sleep.

A thousand rustling footstepsPattered upon the ground;A thousand whisp'ring voicesMade the wide silence, sound.

Some murmured deep and deeper,Like waves in solemn seas;Some breathed sweet and sweeter,Like elves on moon-lit leas.

Tall ferns, washed down in sunlight,Beckoned with fingers green;Tall flowers nodded strangely,With white and glimm'ring sheen;

They sighed, they sang so softly,They stretched their arms to me;My heart, it throbbed so wildly,In weird tumultuous glee.

I staggered in the mosses,It seemed to drag me downInto the gleaming bushes;To fall, to sink, to drown.

When lo! thro' seared foliage,A lovely bird did fly;And looked at me so knowing,With bright and curious eye;

It broke out into warbles,And singing sped away;But I, like one awakened,Fled down the mossy way.