And dreamily she gazed upon the slumbering summer sea,
Until he broke the silence, saying, “Pray, Minerva, dear,
Inform me of the meaning of the Thingness of the Here?
“I know you’re just from Concord, where the lights of wisdom be,
Your head crammed full to bursting with their philosophy,—
Those hairy-headed sages and maids of hosiery blue;
Then solve me the conundrum, love, that I have put to you.”
She smiled a dreamy smile, and said, “The Thingness of the Here
Is that which is not passed and hasn’t yet arrived, my dear.
Indeed,” the maid continued, with a calm, unruffled brow,