Reveries of a Solitary Walker

I was walking home after a long day spent in pleasant contemplation when the people walking on the road just ahead of me all jumped aside at once. Suddenly there was a Great Dane hurtling upon me at full speed before a carriage. He was so close to me that he could not possibly slow down or change direction. It was nearly dark when I regained consciousness. I found myself being cared for by three or four young people who told me that the dog had struck me with full force. I had been thrown backwards, striking my head violently on a rough stone. The carriage, to which the dog belonged, would have run me over if the driver had not immediately stopped the horses. That is what I learned from these people who were taking care of me. But the state in which I found myself at that moment was so uncanny that I must describe it here. Night was coming on. I was aware of the sky, a few stars, a bit of greenery. It was a delicious moment, this initial impression. I was not yet aware of anything else. I was being born at that moment into life; it seemed that I could fill the whole of my simple existence with the things that I saw before me. Being complete in that moment, I could remember nothing of the past; I had no clear idea of myself as an individual, not the slightest idea of what had happened to me. I knew neither who nor where I was. I felt no pain, no fear, no worry. I was aware of the flow of my own blood as if it had been no more than the flow of a river; I never would have imagined that this blood could have anything to do with me. In my entire being I felt a beautiful calmness, unlike anything we know of the ordinary pleasures. It was not until I made my way back to the main road that I remembered my name and where I lived. A man whom I did not know was good enough to walk part of the way with me. Learning that I lived far away, he advised me to take a cab at the Temple station. But I was walking comfortably, very lightly, without feeling any pain or injury, although I was continually spitting up a good deal of blood. I had a fearsome chill that was making my teeth chatter in an alarming way. I decided it would be better to walk home rather than to risk dying of cold in a carriage. My wife's screams upon seeing me led me to understand that I was more badly damaged than I had thought. I passed that night without learning any more of my condition and without feeling any pain. The next morning I discovered the full extent of my injuries. The inside of my upper lip was split as far as the nose; it was only the intact skin on the outside that prevented it from being completely separated. Four front teeth had been driven upward into the jaw. The lower part of my face was quite swollen and black. My right thumb was mangled and swollen, the left thumb also badly injured. My left arm was twisted. The left knee was quite enlarged, with a large and painful swelling that completely prevented me from bending it. But despite all that nothing was broken, not even a tooth, which is amazing good fortune in an accident like that.