"The Crystal Cup" by Bram Stoker

" I. The Dream-Birth
The blue waters touch the walls of the palace; I can hear their
soft, lapping wash against the marble whenever I listen. Far out
at sea I can see the waves glancing in the sunlight, ever-smiling,
ever-glancing, ever-sunny. Happy waves!-happy in your gladness,
thrice happy that ye are free!
I rise from my work and spring up the wall till I reach the
embrasure. I grasp the corner of the stonework and draw myself up
till I crouch in the wide window. Sea, sea, out away as far as my
vision extends. There I gaze till my eyes grow dim; and in the
dimness of my eyes my spirit finds its sight. My soul flies on the
wings of memory away beyond the blue, smiling sea-away beyond the
glancing waves and the gleaming sails, to the land I call my home.
As the minutes roll by, my actual eyesight seems to be restored,
and I look round me in my old birth-house. The rude simplicity of
the dwelling comes back to me as something new. There I see my old
books and manuscripts and pictures, and there, away on their old
shelves, high up above the door, I see my first rude efforts in art. "