1. ۱WHEN I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d with plaudits in the
2. ۲ capitol,
3. ۳ still it was not a happy night for me that follow’d;
4. ۴And else, when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d, still I was not happy;
5. ۵But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health, refresh’d, singing,
6. ۶ inhaling
7. ۷ the
8. ۸ ripe breath of autumn,
9. ۹When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the morning light,
10. ۱۰When I wander’d alone over the beach, and undressing, bathed, laughing with the cool
11. ۱۱ waters,
12. ۱۲ and
13. ۱۳ saw the sun rise,
14. ۱۴And when I thought how my dear friend, my lover, was on his way coming, O then I was
15. ۱۵ happy;
16. ۱۶O then each breath tasted sweeter—and all that day my food nourish’d me more—and the
17. ۱۷ beautiful
18. ۱۸ day pass’d well,
19. ۱۹And the next came with equal joy—and with the next, at evening, came my friend;
20. ۲۰And that night, while all was still, I heard the waters roll slowly continually up the
21. ۲۱ shores,
22. ۲۲
23. ۲۳I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands, as directed to me, whispering, to
24. ۲۴ congratulate
25. ۲۵ me,
26. ۲۶For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool night,
27. ۲۷In the stillness, in the autumn moonbeams, his face was inclined toward me,
28. ۲۸And his arm lay lightly around my ...—and that night I was happy.