On waking after the accident     
     I was presented with the "whole picture"     
     as they say, magnificently detailed,     
     a child's diorama of what life appears to be:     
     staring at the picture I became drowsy     
     with relief when I noticed a yellow      
     dot of light in the lower right-hand corner.     
     I unhooked the machines and tubes and crawled     
     to the picture, with an eyeball to the dot     
     of light which turned out to be a miniature     
     tunnel at the end of which I could see     
     mountains and stars whirling and tumbling     
     sheets of emotions, vertical rivers, upside     
     down lakes, herds of unknown mammals, birds     
     shedding feathers and regrowing them instantly,     
     snakes with feathered heads eating their own     
     shed skins, fish swimming straight up,     
     the bottom of Isaiah's robe, live whales     
     on dry ground, lions drinking from a golden     
     bowl of milk, the rush of night,     
     and somewhere in this the murmur of gods -      
     a tree-rubbing-tree music, a sweet howl      
     of water and rock-grating-rock, fire      
     hissing from fissures, the moon settled      
     comfortably on the ground, beginning to roll.      

            -- Jim Harrison      
               The Theory and Practice of Rivers