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The Hasheesh Eater – Fitz Hugh Ludlow

I stood upon the bank of a crystal stream, whose waters, as they slid on, discoursed notes of music which tinkled on the ear like the tones of some exquisite bell glass. The same impression which such tones produce, of music refined to its ultimate ethereal spirit and borne from a far distance, characterised every ripple of those translucent waves.

The gently sloping banks of the stream were luxuriant with a velvety cushioning of grass and moss, so living green that the eye and the soul reposed on them at the same time and drank in peace. Through this amaranthine herbage strayed the gnarled, fantastic roots of giant cedars of Lebanon, from whose primeval trunks, great branches spread above me, and interlocking, wove a roof of impenetrable shadow; and wandering down the still avenue below those grand arboreal arches went glorious bards, whose snowy beards fell on their breasts beneath countenances of ineffable benignity and nobleness.