Almost a living soul. But every part

Was what I made it—all that I had dreamed—

No more, no less: the mirror of my heart,

Such things as boyhood feigns beneath the smart

Of solitude and spring. I was deceived

Almost. In that first moment I believed.

21

“For a big, brooding rapture, tense as fire

And calm as a first sleep had soaked me through

Without thought, without word, without desire....