“Stay near me, Matey, there’s nothing but water where I am.”
“All right, Naiade, put your hand on my shoulder and rest awhile. We’re almost there!”
He felt her warm hand on his shoulder and her thumb on the back of his neck, and the warmth of the sun on his rapidly drying hair—there in the pure water almost arrived at the wooded islet. He felt the impact of the water on his flank stirred by the leisurely motions of her other hand and arm as she made as if to help him tow her to shore.
They climbed up and sat on a mossy bank out of sight of every living thing, looking from a shady spot at the lake shimmering in the sunlight.
“Our lunch is over there. We should have brought it with us. Nevertheless I’ll feed upon thy lips, Corinna.
“What an experience this is! I never had a swim like this before. A perfect day and a perfect place. Isolation complete. Thou beside me singing in the wilderness, but this is a very Eden and we are undisputed owners of it for this hour. I’m rich in time. I’d just as soon stay here till sunset. An absolutely perfect place to rest and play. I feel as if I could do anything—omnipotent as the gods of old, dependent on nothing. It thrills me to think of myself—just me—and you—just you—the only humans in all the world we see. If I were a magician I’d turn this moss into a magic carpet and we’d fly through space.”
“Oh, Matey dear, I feel as if I were flying! Tell me more like that. Continue the story. Tell it softly close in my ear.”
“Up, out from this islet we are flying, without deafening roar of airplane engine, but just soaring, soaring, wheeling in the air like eagles, you and I together. Far subtler motion than the intermittent strokes with which we paddled to that green islet now so far below us. Blue sky all about and sunshine warm upon my shoulders and your breasts. See down below us now a cloud. See our silhouette dotting the grey mist of it. And look, dearest! That rainbow of which our shadow is the centre. It makes a complete circle. Did you ever seen the whole circle of iridescence like that? You never could on earth. Look again, for soon we shall pass that cloud. A perfect circle of perfect rainbow colours—symbol of infinite beauty.”
“Stop, Matey, this flight of yours is too thrilling. Take me down to earth.”