At the midnight hour, this dream should have frightened me, but it didn’t. Not wanting to let it go, I tried but failed to stay asleep. The feeling I had was extraordinary and better than anything could be in life.

All I remember is that I was on a ship, perhaps even a boat, and that it had sailed into a silence filled only with ice floes. We did our best to avoid them even as we marveled at their beauty. Apprehension descended on me as I became certain that, if we were not even then sinking into them and the icy, still waters, we were bound to. The sky, the water, the ice all looked like parts of an apocalypse. But I felt relieved, comforted, and happy to experience such magic.