The Academy had sent me,
And I swooned upon the floor—
Simply this—and nothing more.
Rising, on the verge of madness,
Should I—courting joy or sadness—
Find it now by bursting open the portentous seal it bore;
Or, in frenzy, should I burn it,
Or to the R. A.’s return it,
And their secrecy implore—
Their forgiveness—Evermore!