Christmas Eve

No sooner said than out in the night! 
My heart lighter and more light: 
And still, as before, I was walking swift,
  With my senses settling fast and steadying,
But my body caught up in the whirl and drift
  Of the vesture’s amplitude, still eddying
On just before me, still to be followed,
  As it carried me after with its motion,
—­What shall I say?—­as a path, were hollowed,
  And a man went weltering through the ocean,
Sucked along in the flying wake
Of the luminous water-snake.