A rush of blood and wonder (from The Difference Engine, Gibson/Sterling)

A rush of blood and wonder swooped upon me while I slept
A scarlet dream transfigured joy as in my stupor wept
The notion that, in worming way had to my mind's eye crept,
Was ocean clear and forest whole and earth in furied life.

This fantasy rode shoulder-side and clung as I awoke
Uncertainly, I cradled it as soft matins I spoke
And in the mist horizon, and as first bread I broke,
Insistent ghost of Gaia murmured destiny of strife.

This rush of blood and wonder that had stirred me late at night
Careened inside my muddied mind and called on soldier's fight
To stand without surrender in defence of planet's plight
And birth alternate future than a husk in blackened orb.

The voice that queried honour sallied forth with chiding air,
The gauntlet set upon the ground before me in a dare,
As through the day grew louder and by dinner blame too bare
And rising bile such treachery was terror to absorb.

By dark, constant companion was such dire prediction sent,
I tore my mental rider 'til long weakened will was spent,
She slipped as cloak from shoulders and denied that harm was meant, 
A giddy blanket judgement then was in my hands to hold.

And now this night I lie alone and crave that doomed refrain
That augured earthly torture of dead seas and acid rain,
But she has fled before me and such torment scrapes my brain
In lonely self-destruction ere the story's trail lies cold.

A rush of blood and wonder feeds the urge for sweet return
To day before when I had yet to sense the sear of nature's burn,
Yet ne'er upon my life would I relinquish what I'd learned
As the rush of blood and wonder begged for mercy under knife.