Sleeping+in+the+Forest+**

I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichens and seeds. I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed, nothing between me and the white fire of the stars but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths among the branches of the perfect trees. All night I heard the small kingdoms breathing around me, the insects, and the birds who do their work in the darkness. All night I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling with a luminous doom. By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times into something better.
 * Sleeping in the Forest**

- A common theme throughout Oliver's poems is the idea of death, rebirth and dreams. - She often portrays death as being beautiful and peaceful, instead an idea full of dread and remorse. - The 'earth remembered [her]' and 'took [her] back so tenderly', as if she had been there before birth and is returning. - Associates the idea of death with nature and the thought of afterlife with peace and happiness. - Even though the theme seems to be linked to death, the speaker seems to be in a dream-like state.
 * Analysis:**